Mmevitm  €ihit 

SERIES  It»  NO.  2  JUNE,.  1908 


THE 
BILLBOARD 
NUISANCE 


DEPARTMENT  OF  NUISANCES 

Harlan  P.  Kelsey,  Vice-President,  Salem,  Mass. 


American  Civic  Association 


President 

J.  HORACE  McFARLAND,  Harrisburg,  Pa. 

First  Vice-President  and  Secretary 
CLINTON  ROGERS  WOODRUFF,  Philadelphia 

Treasurer 

WILLIAM  B.  HOWLAND,  New  York 

Vice-Presidents 
GEORGE  B.  LEIGHTON,  Monadnock,  N.  H. 
ROBERT  WATCHORN,  New  York 
L.  E.  HOLD  EN,  Cleveland 
FIELDING  J.  STILSON,  Los  Angeles 

Chairman  Advisory  Committee 
ROBERT  C.  OGDEN,  New  York 


Executive 

Mis5  Mary  E.  Ahern,  Chicago 
Miss  Mart  Marshall  Butler, 

Yonkers,  N.  Y,    ■  . 
Hevrv  a.  Barker,  Providence 
George  Otis  Draper,  Hopedale,  Mass. 
Mrs.  George  F.  French,  Portland,  Me. 
Frederick  L.  Ford,  Hartford,  Conn. 
Mrs.  M.  F.  Johnston,  Richmond,  Ind. 

Harlan  P.  Kelse 


Board 

O.  J.  Kern,  Rockford,  111. 
D.  Ward  King,  Maitland,  Mo. 
Warren  H.  Manning,  Boston 
Mrs.  a.  E.  McCrea,  Chicago 

.  Mrs.  Agnes  McGiffert  Pound, 
Ashtabula,  O.  - 
R.  B.  Watrous,  Milwaukee 
Graham  RoMEYN  Taylor,  Chicago 

I,  Salem,  Mass. 


Address  all  communications  to  the 
General  Offices  of  the  Association 
NORTH  A  AMERICAN  BUILDING 
PHILADELPHIA 


DEPARTMENT  OF  NUISANCES 


JUNE,  1908 


SERIES    II,     NO.  2 


THE  BILLBOARD 
NUISANCE 


EDITED  BY 

CLINTON  ROGERS  WOODRUFF 


Department  of  Nuisances 

Harlan  P.  Kelsey,  Vice-President,  Salem,  Mass 
Alfred  W.  Putnam,  Secretary,  Salem,  Mass 

Address  all  general  communications  to  the  American  Civic 
Association,  North  American  Building,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction   3 

The  Indictment  Against  the  Billboard  4-13 

Billboards  and  Art   5 

Billboards  and  the  Country-side    7 

Billboards  and  City  Architecture   8 

Desecration  of  Nature   8 

Dangerous  to  Property    9 

Dangerous  to  Health   10 

Memphis  Legislation  10 

Billboards  Conceal  Filth   11 

Unwholesome  Moral  Tendency  11 

Business  Men  Quit  Billboards  12 

Cincinnati  Campaign   12 

The  Celebrated  San  Jose  Case   13-18 

The  Details  14 

The  Use  of  the  Police  Power  15 

What  is  a  Nuisance?  16 

Billboards  and  the  Law   18-23 

Proposed  Massachusetts  Law  18 

Existing  Pennsylvania  Law  19 

The  Los  Angeles  Cases   20 

Fifth  Avenue  Coach  Case   21 

Business  Advertisements  in  Parks   22 

Billboards  Near  Parks  23 

Billboard  Taxation  and  Regulation   23-28 

American  Civic  Association's  Model  Laws   25 

Proposed  Regulating  Law   25 

Proposed  State  Taxing  Law  26 

Proposed  Assessment  Law   27 

Billboard  Miscellany   28-32 

Methods  of  the  Minister  Militant   28 

The  Niagara  Test  31 

The  Press  and  Billboards  32-36 

Outdoor  Advertising  Abroad  36-45 

Germany — Berlin  36 

Hamburg   38 

billposting  in  france   4i 

South  America — Buenos  Aires   43 

Rio  DE  Janeiro   44 

How  TO  Combat  Billboard  Abuses  46-48 


/.  Horace  McFarland  Company,  Harrisburg.  Pa. 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


INTRODUCTION 

This  pamphlet  is  intended  to  afford  a  summary  of  the 
arguments  advanced  against  objectionable  billboards,  and  to 
furnish  suggestions  as  to  the  most  available  ways  and  means 
for  the  curtailment  and  elimination  of  the  evil. 

Evidence  is  accumulating  in  steadily  increasing  volume 
to  the  effect  that  Americans  do  not  view  with  approval  or 
appreciation  the  growing  use  of  billboards  for  advertising 
purposes,  and  especially  where  they  are  obnoxious  in  them- 
selves or  interfere  with  natural  scenery,  or  with  an  effective 
view  or  beautiful  vista. 

The  Association  is  indebted  to  the  editors  and  publishers  of 
"The  Outlook"  and  "The  Craftsman"  for  permission  to  use 
so  much  of  two  articles  appearing  in  their  columns  as  presented 
a  strong  summing-up  of  the  case  against  billboards.  The  more 
important  facts  upon  which  the  case  rests  are  given  in  further 
detail  for  the  guidance  of  those  who,  in  their  respective  com- 
munities, are  active  in  the  campaign  against  ughness,  especially 
in  so  far  as  that  ughness  is  due  to  the  well-nigh  universal  use 
of  billboards. 

-  These  facts  show  that  billboards  are  detrimental  to  the 
advancing  taste  in  municipal  art  and  offensive  to  the  growing 
artistic  sense  of  American  communities;  that  they  are  danger- 
ous to  life  and  limb,  and  liable  to  be  detrimental  to  the  health 
of  the  people.  The  counts  in  the  indictment  against  billboards 
are  multiplying  so  rapidly  and  the  various  efforts  to  counteract 
their  baleful  influence  are  increasing  at  such  a  rapid  pace  that 
any  publication  dealing  with  the  subject  is  apt  to  be  out  of  date 
so  soon  as  published.  It  is  our  intention,  however,  to  furnish 
herein  a  brief  but  effective  summary  of  suggestive  experiences, 
sufficiently  full  to  enable  local  workers  to  apply  them  with 
effect  to  their  own  special  circumstances. 

The  San  Jose  decision,  as  the  pioneer  instance  of  a  judicial 
declaration  that  the  billboard  is  a  nuisance,  is  discussed  and 
quoted  at  length,  because  we  feel  that  it  will  prove  especially 
effective  in  molding  pubhc  opinion  along  the  right  lines.  Ju- 


4 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


dicial  opinions  not  only  declare  the  law,  but  reflect  public 
opinion  on  the  subject,  and  all  the  decisions  that  have  recently 
been  delivered  on  this  question  show  conclusively  the  influence 
of  the  gathering  cloud  of  public  protest  against  objectionable 
signs  and  billboards. 

The  Association's  three  model  bills  are  published  in  full 
for  the  guidance  of  those  who  are  seeking  to  control  the  situa- 
tion through  legislation,  and  references  given  to  existing 
statutes  and  ordinances. 

The  successful  experiences  of  foreign  countries  are  related 
with  sufiicient  detail  to  afford  helpful  suggestions  to  workers 
in  this  country.  This  information,  gathered  at  the  instance 
of  the  American  Civic  Association,  has  been  given  very  general 
publicity,  but  its  reproduction  in  this  connection  was  deemed 
advisable  as  it  affords  valuable  ideas  to  those  who  wish  to 
deal  comprehensively  with  the  subject  in  all  its  phases. 

The  pamphlet  is  issued  with  the  hope  that  it  will  prove 
helpful  in  arousing  and  guiding  public  opinion  in  this  question, 
and  of  correlating  for  an  advance  movement  all  along  the  Kne 
against  one  of  the  most  serious  menaces  to  the  successful 
achievement  of  "The  City  Beautiful,"  all  the  forces  now 
working  in  that  direction  and  behalf. 


THE  INDICTMENT  AGAINST  THE 
BILLBOARD 

The  billboard  evil  is  dangerous  and  widespread.  It  is 
pleading  vested  rights  in  its  defence;  but  the  growing  outcry 
against  it,  the  fact  that  men  and  women  are  declaiming  against 
it,  that  organizations  are  taking  up  the  crusade,  are  ail  encour- 
aging signs  of  the  times.  The  American  may  be  indifferent, 
but  he  is  not  dead  to  beauty  or  duty;  and  both  of  these  are 
calling  to  him  to  take  up  arms  against  the  billboard.  It  is  a 
little  too  early  to  indicate  how  far  the  campaign  has  progressed. 
The  fighting  has  just  begun,  but  the  important  and  auspicious 
fact  is  that  the  fight  has  begun. 

The  billboard  is  being  attacked  on  every  side  by  the  pubHc 
official,  by  the  sanitarian,  by  the  business  man,  by  the  legis- 
lator, by  the  lover  of  civic  beauty;  but  one  must  not  think  that 
the  objectionable  billboard  and  the  offending  bill-poster  will 
gracefully  or  quietly  retire  from  the  field.  They  have  their 
national  organization,  which  is  called  by  some  a  trust;  they 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


5 


have  an  active  lobby  in  every  state  where  legislation  adverse 
to  their  private  interests  is  introduced;  they  have  an  active,  and, 
at  times,  a  virulent  publicity  bureau.  They  are  leaving  no 
stone  unturned  to  protect  and  advance  their  interests.  The 
fight  is  a  bitter  one,  and  to  the  finish. 

The  war  on  billboards  should  have,  and  I  believe  in  time 
will  have,  the  sympathetic  approval  and  support  of  every  loyal 
citizen,  whether  or  not  he  is  a  lover  of  civic  beauty.  This  war- 
fare is  as  much  in  the  interest  of  material  business  prosperity 
as  in  the  interest  of  the  disfigured  landscape.  The  great  public 
is  beginning  to  appreciate  that  whatever  makes  for  the  beauty 
of  the  streets  of  a  great  city  will  also  make  for  a  greater  power 
in  all  branches  of  business  activity. 

BILLBOARDS  AND  ART 

"  Oh,  you're  from  Pittsburg.  I  stopped  in  Pittsburg  once, 
for  a  few  hours  when  I  had  to  wait  for  a  train.  It's  such  a 
funny,  ugly  city,  all  covered  with  the  queerest  wooden  fences 
with  great  big  advertisements  printed  on  them.  That's  all 
I  remember  about  Pittsburg, — its  billboards  and  its  hills." 
This,  Carolyn  Prescott  tells  us,  is  a  sample  of  conversation 
"handed  out"  to  Pittsburgers,  the  home  of  the  great  Carnegie 
Art  Institute.  This  same  authority  declares  that  there  are 
billboards  everywhere:  Billboards  on  top  of  tall  buildings; 
billboards  creeping  over  the  high  hills,  winding  their  sinuous 
length  like  so  many  bizarre  serpents;  billboards  stuck  up  in 
front  of  houses  and  gardens;  billboards  at  the  entrance  of  the 
parks;  billboards  even  defacing  the  cemeteries.  Everywhere 
one  turns,  there  is  the  offering  of  some  medicine  that  is  warranted 
to  cure  everything  from  softening  of  the  brain  to  housemaid's 
knee,  or  billboards  demanding  that  we  shall  eat  so  and  so,  or 
drink  so  and  so,  or  wear  so  and  so,  or  go  to  such  and  such  a 
place,  if  we  would  be  happy.  "  We  are  so  nauseated  with  the 
billboards  that  by  the  time  we  have  reached  our  destination 
we  have  become  so  disgusted  with  what  we  have  seen  and  read 
(for  we  can't  help  reading  them — it's  like  the  opium  habit) 
that  we  wouldn't  patronize  those  firms  who  advertise  on  bill- 
boards if  we  had  to  do  without  the  articles." 

How  many  Carneige  Art  Institutes  will  it  take  to  offset 
such  a  condition  of  affairs?  Probably  very  many,  for  the 
one  Pittsburg  now  has,  with  all  its  millions  of  endowment  and 
beautiful  collections,  is  not  able  to  prevent  the  erection  of  one 
board,  one  hundred  and  forty  feet  long  and  twenty  feet  high, 


6 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


directly  opposite  to  the  Institute  itself.  Nor  has  its  presence 
prevented  the  desecration  of  its  own  beautiful  pictures.  La 
Fouche's  picture  of  "The  Bath,"  which  received  the  first  prize 
at  the  Interstate  Art  Exhibition  at  the  Institute  last  spring, 
(1907)  has  been  utilized  as  a  subject  "to  inspire  enthusiasm  in 
modern  plumbing. "  Surely  these  desecrations  may  with  entire 
appropriateness  be  termed  "disfiguring  curses  to  our  not-too- 
pretty  city." 

This  evil  blight  attacks  the  country  as  well  as  the  city.  It 
leaves  no  part  untouched.  Nothing  is  sacred  in  its  onward 
march.  If  the  sky-line  of  the  city  is  disfigured,  so  is  that  of  the 
country-side.  The  billboards  flaunt  their  loud  color,  their  ugly 
vulgarity,  their  ofttime  suggestive  pictures,  in  the  face  of  every 
passer-by  on  the  city  street  and  country  lane,  and  by  the  rail- 
road which  skirts  the  farm  or  country-seat. 

"  The  bill-poster,"  to  quote  an  indignant  Cincinnati  observer, 
who  has  been  aroused  by  the  vigorous  campaign  inaugurated 
there  by  the  wide-awake  Business  Men's  Club  of  that  city, 
"has  disfigured  and  concealed  the  natural  and  the  artificial 
beauty  of  the  landscape — and  there  is  no  other  landscape 
comparable  with  that  which  the  billboarder  is  striving  to  hide 
from  Cincinnati  with  large  degree  of  success.  He  has  affixed 
his  disfigurements  on  trees,  fences,  gateways  and  walls  so  as  to 
affect  the  amenities  of  public  parks,  promenades,  streets  and 
avenues.  He  has  sought  the  neighborhood  of  churches  and  of 
schoolhouses.  He  has  scores  of  miles  of  disfigurements  and 
blotches  in  Cincinnati,  and  he  goes  scot-free  of  taxation  on 
his  exceedingly  remunerative  investment  in  billboards." 

OFFENSIVE  TO  THE  ARTISTIC  TASTE 

Certainly  the  most  widely  urged  objection  to  the  billboard 
is  the  one  based  on  esthetic  grounds,  as  in  the  Pittsburg  instance 
just  cited.  Jackson  Hatch,  the  City  Attorney  of  San  Jose, 
Cal.,  in  his  suit  against  an  offending  sign  in  that  city,  declared 
in  his  brief  that  "  A  glaring  billboard,  advertising,  for  instance, 
^  Budweiser  Beer,^  set  opposite  a  man^s  house,  in  a  vacant  lot 
bordering  upon  a  public  highway  in  a  country  town  devoted  to 
homes,  is  just  as  offensive  to  the  immediate  residents  as  would 
be  the  maintenance  oj  a  pig- sty  giving  jorth  offensive  odors,  or 
the  maintenance  oj  a  stone-breaking  machine  or  the  chirm  oj 
hoarse  bells.  In  principle,  there  is  no  difference  between  them; 
it  is  only  a  difference  in  degree.  Each  is  an  inter jerence  with 
the  peaceable  and  quiet  enjoyment  oj  one^s  property.'^'' 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


7 


The  question  at  issue  was  not  the  power  to  impose  a  license,, 
or  in  any  manner  to  regulate  the  erection  of  billboards,  but 
concerned  the  power  of  absolute  prohibition,  on  the  ground 
that  billboards  were  offensive  to  the  sight  and  to  good  taste. 

The  decision  of  Judge  Welch  was  an  oral  one,  but  was  con- 
clusive on  the  points  raised.  Without  qualification,  it  was  in 
favor  of  the  municipaUty,  and  held  that,  under  Section  3,479 
of  the  Civil  Code,  anything  that  was  offensive  to  the  senses 
could  be  declared  a  nuisance  and  prohibited,  and  that  an 
offense  to  the  sense  of  sight  might  be  included  with  nuisances 
offensive  to  other  senses.  Moreover,  the  degree  of  offensiveness 
might  not  be  equal  to  all  individuals,  but,  being  within  the 
statutory  definition  of  a  nuisance,  the  municipal  authorities 
had  the  right  to  declare  the  offensive  object  to  be  a  nuisance,, 
and  the  courts  would  not  interfere  with  the  discretionary 
power  of  the  board  of  trustees  in  that  particular  CaHfornia. 
municipaUty.* 

BILLBOARDS  AND  THE  COUNTRY  SIDE 

There  was  a  time  when  a  ride  through  the  country  on  the- 
railroad  afforded  an  uninterrupted  panorama  of  beauty,  an 
ever-varying  scene  which  was  a  delight  to  the  eye  and  a  joy  to 
the  soul;  there  was  mental  and  spiritual  refreshment.  Can. 
the  same  be  said  of  the  ride  from  Philadelphia  to  New  York, 
on  the  Pennsylvania  railroad,  or  from  New  York  to  Boston, 
on  the  Shore  Line  ?  There  are  spots  which  remind  us  of  what 
was  once  the  rule,  but,  for  the  most  part,  our  eyes  meet  offensive 
signs — offensive  not  only  in  what  they  give  us  in  the  way  of 
unsought  advice  about  personal  matters,  but  offensive  because 
they  obscure  the  landscape  or  distract  our  attention  from  its 
beauties.  To  adopt  as  our  own  the  words  of  the  Earl  of  Bal- 
carres,  one  of  the  leading  British  opponents  of  the  evil:  "What 
we  claim  is  that  the  landscape  does  not  belong  to  the  man. 
who  chooses  to  pay  a  few  shillings  for  it  per  annum,  but  is 
an  asset  of  the  people  at  large.  The  same  principle  apphes 
to  open  spaces  and  places.  The  sky  sign  is  a  most  objection- 
able form  of  advertising.  There  is  the  flash  sky  sign  which 
dominates  the  whole  of  the  Embankment.  A  well-known 
hotel  has  a  big  illuminated  sign  which  flashes  down  the  Mall 
into  the  very  windows  of  the  sovereign  in  his  palace.  Such 
advertisements  are  merely  seizing  the  opportunities  of  the 
taxpayers'  expenditure  on  space  and  utilizing  it." 

*For  a  full  statement  of  the  San  Jos^  case  see  page  13 


8 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


BILLBOARDS  AND  CITY  ARCHITECTURE 

Here  is  how  Richard  Watson  Gilder,  editor  of  "The  Cen- 
tury," put  the  case  in  a  letter  read  at  the  Providence  meeting 
of  the  American  Civic  Association: 

"As  I  went  yesterday  to  my  office  in  this  city,  I  passed  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  of  modern  buildings,  a  savings  bank 
built  recently  of  white  marble  in  the  classical  style.  It  is  a 
pleasure  to  look  upon  this  noble  and  restful  structure.  And 
it  is  a  pain,  and  an  anger  to  have  to  take  in,  at  the  same  glance, 
an  enormous  liquor  sign,  high  in  the  air  beyond  and  above 
it.  What  is  the  use  of  building  exquisite  structures,  if  any 
tasteless  and  remorseless  trader  can  come  along  with  his 
glaring,  dominating  appeals  for  your  money,  and  utterly 
spoil  the  effect.  It  is  as  if  at  a  symphony  concert,  venders  of 
soap  should  be  allowed  to  go  up  and  down  the  aisles  and  bawl 
their  wares. 

"A  similar  experience  accompanied  my  railroad  trip  on  the 
same  day  over  one  of  the  lines  between  New  York  and  Phila- 
delphia— where  now  and  again  a  loud  array  of  advertising 
signs  spoiled  the  effect  of  the  rich,  otherwise  harmonious 
landscape. 

"Owe  oj  these  days  the  people  oj  a  commercial  community 
will  appreciate  the  jact  that,  to  put  it  commercially,  beauty 
is  a  valuable  asset,  as  well  as  'a  joy  jorever;^  and  then  the  adver- 
tisement fiend  will  not  be  allowed  to  go  up  and  down  the  land 
destroying  views,  which  means  destroying  values — values  that 
belong  to  the  entire  population,  and  that  no  individual  has  the 
right  to  ruin.'^ 

The  conviction  is  growing  in  this  country  that  scenic 
and  urban  beauty  are  public  assets,  and  must  not  be  impaired 
to  enable  some  one  to  sell  more  ointment  or  more  whiskey 
or  more  cigars,  and  I  believe  business  men  are  beginning  to 
realize  that  a  billboard  is  an  undesirable  medium  of  publicity. 

DESECRATION  OF  NATURE 

The  charge  that  the  flaming  billboard  is  indicative  of  the 
supremacy  of  commercialism  in  America,  and  that  it  is,  at  the 
same  time,  the  cause  of  the  backwardness  of  our  art,  is  revived, 
with  a  dash  of  humor,  in  an  editorial  in  the  ''Harper's  Weekly." 
It  is  complained  that  the  annoyance  of  heat  and  cinders  and 
hawking  newsboys  encountered  in  railway  travel  might,  in 
large  measure,  be  counteracted  by  the  sight  of  the  meadows, 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


9 


woods  and  hamlets  through  which  the  train  passes.  But  all 
this  is  taken  away,  especially  near  large  cities,  by  "procla- 
mations of  the  virtues  of  pills — proclamations  hideous  enough 
to  cause  the  disorders  they  claim  to  cure."  And  the  writer  adds, 
^'And  we  wonder  why  art  is  at  low  ebb  in  our  land!" 

According  to  the  St.  Paul  (Minnesota)  "Pioneer,"  there  is 
no  need  to  take  a  railroad  journey  as  suggested  by  the  eastern 
writer.  A  trip  to  Minneapohs  on  the  interurban  Hne  will  re- 
veal, in  kind  the  same,  and  in  a  degree  more  intense,  a  collec- 
tion of  billboards  which  ought  to  be  recognized  as  a  disgrace 
to  a  community  of  people  as  enHghtened  as  are  those  of  the 
Twin  Cities.  There  is  scarcely  a  block  from  the  first  vacant 
lot  at  this  end  of  the  line  to  the  last  in  Minneapolis  on  which 
one  to  a  dozen  billboards  of  various  sizes  do  not  flame  forth 
their  multi-colored  commands  to  buy.  Among  the  trees  and 
small  groves  near  the  river,  the  same  desecration  of  nature  has 
been  carried  on.  The  whole  line  is  a  hideous  nightmare  which 
can  he  avoided  only  by  closing  the  eyes.  The  green  which  nature 
provided  as  a  rest  for  the  eye  is  covered  to  so  great  an  extent 
with  crude  reds  and  yellows  that  the  strain  is  enough  to  render 
the  short  journey  wearisome. 

From  the  standpoint  of  general  happiness,  is  this  desecra- 
tion of  God's  out-of-doors  sufficiently  compensated  by  the 
mere  money  which  may  be  gained?  Is  it  not  the  appreciation 
of  the  true  and  the  beautiful,  the  quiet  and  peaceful,  which 
brings  a  larger  measure  of  joy  than  can  be  obtained  from  the 
money  derived  from  so  plastering  the  fields  and  groves  with 
signs  that  the  nation  has  almost  forgotten  what  natural  beauty 
really  is? 

DANGEROUS  TO  PROPERTY 

The  counts  in  the  indictment  against  the  billboard  evil 
are  fortunately  being  effectively  formulated  and  rapidly  multi- 
phed  throughout  the  country.  Each  interest  affected  is  press- 
ing its  charges  with  more  and  more  vigor  and  relentlessness. 

The  pubHc  official,  in  the  person  of  the  fire  and  pohce 
chiefs,  is  objecting  on  the  ground  that  the  billboard  is  a  menace 
to  the  fife,  health  and  property  of  the  community.  Fire  Chief 
Croker,  of  New  York,  maintains  that  they  are  a  delay  and  a 
very  great  handicap  to  firemen.  He  says  that  time  and  again 
his  men  have  to  cut  their  way  through  the  boards  to  get  to 
a  fire.  But  very  sHght  reflection  is  needed  to  see  how  danger- 
ous they  are  apt  to  be  in  large  cities  and  in  narrow  streets. 

The  fire  chief  of  Janesville,  Wis.,  is  officially  on  record 


10 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


as  opposed  to  billboards,  and,  in  Buffalo,  the  city  council  has 
placed  the  abatement  of  those  boards  defined  to  be  nuisances 
in  charge  of  the  fire  bureau. 

Moreover,  billboards,  it  is  contended  by  some  officials,  help 
to  communicate  fire,  and  should  be  forbidden  on  the  same 
ground  that  frame  structures  are  forbidden  in  built-up  sections 
of  the  average  city.  To  allow  billboards  within  the  limits 
wherein  frame  structures  are  forbidden  is  an  obvious  incon- 
sistency, which  ought  forthwith  to  be  done  away  with  without 
further  debate. 

DANGEROUS  TO  HEALTH 

The  poHce  in  some  cities  object  because  the  boards  afford 
a  hiding  place  for  fugitives  and  criminals,  and  sanitary  officers 
and  building  inspectors  object  because  the  grounds  behind 
billboards  usually  become  unpleasant  nusiances.  The  Memphis 
Council  recently  enacted  some  much-needed  protective  and 
sanitary  legislation  including  certain  sections  bearing  on  the 
billboard  problem,  the  constitutionality  of  which  was  assailed, 
but  eventually  sustained  by  the  Supreme  Court.  "  In  the  future, 
all  billboards  must  be  built  three  feet  from  the  ground.  This 
is  primarily  necessary  for  the  purpose  of  sanitation.  Many 
people  have  been  using  the  space  in  the  rear  of  extensive  bill- 
boards as  a  common  dumping-ground.  Filth  of  all  character 
has  been  deposited  in  such  places  because  they  were  screened 
from  the  streets.  Various  nuisances  have  been  committed,  and 
the  health  of  the  city  has  been  endangered.  This  was  one  of 
the  reasons  that  led  the  building  inspector  to  begin  his  crusade 
in  behalf  of  a  healthier  and  safer  arrangement  for  the  con- 
struction of  such  boards.  In  this  he  had  the  cooperation  of  the 
health  department  and  some  of  the  city  officials  in  general. 
In  addition  to  this,  there  are  certain  other  regulations  to  be 
comphed  with,  looking  to  the  public  safety.  A  number  of 
boards  have  recently  toppled  over,  and  in  two  instances  death 
was  narrowly  averted.  Hereafter  all  billboards,  in  addition 
to  being  built  three  feet  from  the  ground,  must  be  built  upon 
posts  6x6  inches  where  the  sign  is  to  be  ten  feet  in  height." 

This  legislation  does  not  go  into  the  question  of  the  moral 
or  esthetic  offensiveness  of  billboards,  but  it  is  significant 
in  that  it  estabhshes  a  precedent  that  they  are  nuisances, 
because  a  danger,  if  unregulated,  to  the  pubhc  health. 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


II 


BILLBOARDS  CONCEAL  FILTH 

Moreover,  it  furnishes  a  reply  to  one  of  the  stock  argu- 
ments of  bill-posters,  that  they  hide  unpleasant  spots  and  sights. 
A  correspondent  of  a  Pittsburg  paper  thus  puts  this  side  of 
the  case:  "Billboards  have  been  called  an  eyesore;  but  I  leave 
it  to  any  observant  person  if  a  picture,  no  matter  how  inartistic 
or  crude,  is  worse  than  the  usual  litter  of  tin  cans,  garbage, 
stones,  etc.,  generally  to  be  found  behind  these  same  boards. 
Clean  up  the  vacant  lots  so  that  the  people  will  not  want  to 
hide  them  with  hideous  fences,  and  then  talk  about  the  harm 
done  to  one's  artistic  principles  by  billboards." 

Will  those  responsible  for  such  a  condition  of  affairs  be  the 
more  likely  to  clean  up  if  the  litter  is  exposed,  or  if  it  is  allowed 
to  remain  concealed  behind  a  billboard  ?  Billboards  may  cover 
up  a  lot  of  sins,  but  the  wiser  policy  is  to  cure  them,  rather 
than  to  multiply  the  billboards! 

There  are  those  who  now  claim  that  they  are  further 
detrimental  to  health,  because  they  shut  out  the  Hght  from 
offices,  factories  and,  in  some  places,  flats  and  dwellings. 
If  billboards  multiply  in  number  and  size  as  rapidly  in  the 
next  year  or  two  as  they  have  in  the  past  two  or  three,  they 
will  shut  out  a  very  considerable  amount  of  light  and  air. 

What  with  the  skyscraper  and  the  gigantic  billboard  in 
our  cities,  the  outlook  is  not  encouraging,  unless  a  halt  is 
called  and  that  very  soon.  Perhaps  the  fact  that  the  value  of 
real  estate  is  being  impaired  by  the  presence  of  these  boards 
will  serve  to  bring  about  a  reform.  The  Massachusetts  Civic 
League,  in  its  campaign  in  that  State,  formally  charged  that 
the  value  of  real  estate  had  been  decreased  in  certain  instances 
by  reason  of  objectionable  billboards.  If  once  the  property- 
holders  realize  that  this  is  likely  to  be  a  general  result,  they 
will  bestir  themselves  for  their  own  benefit. 

THE  UNWHOLESOME  TENDENCY  OF  BILLBOARDS 

Moral  agencies  indict  billboards  because  they  so  frequently 
are  used  to  advertise  lurid  and  sensational  plays,  and 
alcohohc  beverages.  The  Woman's  Health  Protective  Asso- 
ciation of  Brooklyn  charges  that  the  former  incite  to  crime, 
and  that  the  latter  are  active  accomphces  in  the  transgression, 
and  have  asked  the  Court  to  order  their  expunging,  on  the 
ground  that  the  community  must  protect  the  morals  of  the 
boys  and  girls,  its  future  citizens. 


12 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


While  the  national  organization  of  the  billposters  has 
adopted  resolutions  strongly  reprobating  the  posting  of  lurid 
dramatic  pictures  of  the  "White  Slave"  type,  the  fraternity 
has  evidently  accepted  the  resolutions  in  a  purely  Pickwickian 
spirit,  for  the  offenses  against  decency  and  true  morality  con- 
tinue. The  billboards  also  constantly  suggest  to  the  boys  the 
use  of  firearms  in  violent  scenes,  and  it  is  a  common  sight  to 
see  children  standing  open-mouthed  before  these  baleful 
exhibitions. 

In  Newark,  legislation  has  been  invoked  to  prevent  the 
posting  by  some  of  the  members  of  the  national  organization 
of  suggestive  pictures  of  partially  draped  women. 

BUSINESS  MEN  QUIT  BILLBOARDS 

Here  is  the  letter  the  Municipal  Art  Committee  of  the 
Business  Men's  Club  has  been  sending  to  every  billboard 
advertiser  in  Cincinnati :  "  We  have  noted  signs  bearing  your 
advertisements  in  our  city.  The  card  we  enclose  is  one  signed 
by  numerous  large  advertisers  who  have  displayed  enough 
civic  pride  to  agree  to  abandon  this  kind  of  advertising  within 
our  city.  Trusting  that  you  will  lend  your  assistance  by  signing 
and  returning  the  inclosed  card,  we  are,  yours  truly,  the  Com- 
mittee." 

With  the  letter  is  sent  what  is  known  as  a  roll-of-honor 
card,  which  is  in  the  nature  of  a  pledge  to  refrain  from  bill- 
board advertising.  The  roll  of  honor  seems  to  be  popular,  for 
nearly  one  hundred  firms  have  declared  their  intention  to 
abandon  the  use  of  the  billboard,  and,  in  February,  1908,  a 
careful  estimate  showed  that  more  than  25  per  cent  of  Cincin- 
nati's "sign-scape"  was  vacant  of  fresh  advertising. 

The  need  for  an  active  and  vigorous  onslaught  on  the  evil 
at  Niagara  is  obvious  to  those  who  have  recently  visited  the 
Falls.*  There,  in  the  presence  of  one  of  Nature's  master- 
pieces, an  inspiration  to  the  lowliest  minds  as  to  the  most  highly 
trained,  we  find  the  insulting  signboard.  There  it  is  not  only  a 
nuisance,  but  an  outrage  upon  the  public,  and  an  insult  to 
the  Creator. 

If  there  is  no  other  way  to  reach  such  offenders,  let  every 
one  who  sees  these  boards  or  hears  about  them  register  a  solemn 
vow  never  to  patronize  the  advertiser  who  uses  such  means  to 
give  publicity  to  his  wares. 

"I  never  patronize  a  firm  that  advertises  on  billboards  or 

*See  account  of  Niagara  billboard  test,  page  31 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


13 


on  theater  drop-curtains,"  declares  one  Tacoma  city  official. 
"I  see  the  ads.  One  can't  bhnd  himself  to  them,  but  he  can 
refuse  to  patronize  the  firms.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  put  down 
in  my  mental  note-book  every  name  I  see  on  such  an  ad.,  and 
I  refuse  to  buy  a  thing  of  that  firm.  I  consider  it  an  outrage 
to  mar  the  scenery  of  our  city  with  billboards,  and  I  consider 
it  an  insult  to  theater  patrons  to  compel  them  to  look  upon  a 
great  poster  of  business  ads.  after  they  have  paid  good  money 
to  get  into  the  house.  You  may  think  I  am  humoring  my 
prejudices  too  much,  but  I  have  stayed  away  from  many  a 
good  show  in  the  best  theaters  in  Tacoma  for  no  other  reason 
than  that  I  would  not  have  those  advertisements  flung  in  my 
face.  No  one  was  more  pleased  than  I  to  learn  that  the  Tacoma 
theater  people  had  at  last  discarded  their  advertisement 
curtain." 

May  the  tribe  of  such  determined  men  increase,  and  the 
billboard  offense  will  decrease  in  proportion, — nay,  faster, 
because  the  modern  advertiser  seeks  to  please,  not  to  alienate. 
When  he  realizes  that  his  course  is  unpopular,  he  will  be  the 
first  to  change  his  tactics,  and  when  people  fail  to  follow  the 
brazen  suggestions  of  the  billboards,  the  latter  will  disappear. 

THE  CELEBRATED  SAN  JOSE  CASE 

The  ordinance  of  the  town  of  East  San  Jos^,  which  was  the 
subject  of  controversy  in  the  now  justly  famous  San  Jose  case, 
prohibited : 

The  erection  or  maintenance  of  any  billboard,  signboard 
or  other  structure,  for  the  purpose  of  painting  or  other 
delineating  or  picturing  or  displaying  thereon,  or  thereby,  any 
advertisement  of  any  goods,  wares  or  merchandise  whatsoever. 

The  prohibition  does  not  apply  to  any  dwelling-house  or 
barn  upon  which  there  shall  be  painted,  or  otherwise  delineated 
or  pictured  or  displayed,  any  advertisement  mentioned  above; 
nor  to  any  person  having  a  fixed  place  of  business  in  East 
San  Jose  who  erects  or  maintains  any  advertising  sign  on  the 
premises  where  his  business  is  carried  on,  and  who  has  paid  the 
license  taxes  exacted  from  him  by  the  town  for  carrying  on 
such  business,  and  has  secured  from  the  marshal  a  written 
permit  therefor,  if  the  advertisement  relates  only  to  goods 
for  sale  by  him  at  his  said  place  of  business. 

The  second  section  of  the  ordinance  provides  that,  in  case 
of  a  violation  of  the  ordinance,  the  town  marshal  shall  serve 


14 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


notice  on  the  person  maintaining  the  prohibited  billboard, 
directing  him  to  remove  the  same  within  five  days,  and  that,  if 
he  fails  to  do  so,  then  the  marshal  shall  proceed  to  remove  the 
same. 

THE  DETAILS  OF  THE  CASE 

In  August,  1906,  the  town  marshal  of  East  San  Jose  served 
upon  Varney  &  Green,  billposters,  who  were  the  plaintiffs 
in  the  action,  a  written  notice  requiring  them  to  remove  within 
five  days  all  billboards  maintained  by  them  in  the  town  and 
used  for  advertising  purposes;  otherwise  he  would  proceed  to 
remove  them  as  directed  by  ordinance. 

The  firm  refused  to  comply  with  the  ordinance,  and  com- 
menced a  suit  in  equity  to  obtain  a  perpetual  injunction  to 
restrain  the  marshal  from  enforcing  the  ordinance.  A  temporary 
writ  was  issued,  and  thereafter  the  case  was  tried  on  its  merits. 
Among  other  things,  it  was  proved  that  Varney  &  Green 
owned  and  maintained  billboards  along  the  principal  thorough- 
fare through  the  town.  The  testimony  described  in  detail 
these  several  billboards,  of  which  the  following  were  typical 
cases:  One  was  about  ten  feet  high  and  fifty  feet  long, 
and  contained  a  good  deal  of  paper  in  various  stages  of 
tearing  and  some  old  advertisements  of  Forepaugh's  circus, 
and  an  advertisement  of  pure  drugs  pasted  over  an  old  sign, 
and  that  this  billboard  was  highly  colored,  having  colors  red, 
yellow,  black,  green,  blue  and  white;  also,  that  it  was  covered 
over  with  dried  paste.  Another  billboard  was  about  ten  feet 
high  and  twenty  feet  long,  and  one  of  the  advertisements  was 
described  as  follows:  It  had  in  large  capital  letters  "A.  B.  C.", 
these  letters  being  white  on  a  black  background,  and  followed 
by  the  words,  "  King  of  all  bottled  beers,"  and  that  immediately 
to  the  left  were  the  words,  "  Bottled  exclusively  at  the  Brewery 
in  St.  Louis,"  and  that  to  the  right  was  a  very  excellent  picture 
of  a  beer  bottle,  having  upon  it  the  letters  "A.  B.  C."  and  the 
word  "  Bohemian,"  and  on  the  right  of  it  the  words,  "  American 
Brewing  Company,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,"  and  that  in  the  middle 
of  this  part  of  the  billboard  was  a  picture  of  a  bulldog  of  fero- 
cious aspect  and  large  size  in  an  attitude  of  contemplation, 
apparently  viewing  the  bottle  of  beer,  and  that  immediately 
between  the  dog's  outspread  front  feet  appeared  the  words, 
"Watching  a  good  thing,"  and  that  on  both  sides  and  to  the 
rear  of  the  dog  appeared  a  prairie  scene  in  green,  black  and 
yellow,  relieved  at  intervals  with  yellow  flowers,  and  at 
extreme  bottom  of  the  sign  were  the  names  of  the  distributors; 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


15 


that  this  and  another  sign  were  paper  and  were  pasted  on, 
and  underneath  was  considerable  old  and  rotting  paper, 
making  the  board  look  very  rough.  About  a  dozen  signs  were 
described,  including  advertisements  of  whisky,  tobacco, 
cigarettes,  and  other  articles  of  merchandise.  It  was  shown  that 
these  signs  were  offensive  to  a  great  many  of  the  citizens  of 
East  San  Jose,  because  of  their  unsightly  appearance  and  of 
the  fact  that  they  advertised  beers  and  whiskies,  and  that  they 
excited  much  unfavorable  comment  in  the  community,  and 
were  tending  to  depreciate  the  value  of  adjoining  properties 
for  residence  purposes. 

THE  LAW  OF  THE  CASE 

The  question  opened  for  discussion  was :  Has  a  municipality 
of  the  sixth  class  in  California  the  power,  for  any  cause  at  all, 
to  prohibit  the  erection  and  maintenance  of  billboards  for 
general  advertising  purposes  within  its  corporate  limits? 

This  suggests  a  consideration  of  the  police  power,  and  of 
the  various  conditions  that  fall  within  its  comprehensive  grant 
of  power  to  municipal  corporations. 

Mr.  Hatch  maintained  that,  under  the  constitution  and 
laws  of  California,  a  municipal  corporation  has  almost  supreme 
power  when  it  comes  to  deal  with  municipal  affairs;  and  while 
this  term,  municipal  affairs,  is  difficult  to  define,  the  cases  in 
which  the  courts  have  attempted  to  define  it  are  so  numerous 
that  it  is,  in  Cahfornia,  an  easy  thing,  comparatively  speaking, 
to  bring  a  case  within  the  domain  of  municipal  affairs. 

Section  362  of  the  Municipal  Government  Act  provides  that 
any  act  which  a  municipal  corporation  shall  declare  to  be  a 
nuisance  is  a '  nuisance.  And,  in  order  to  avail  itself  of  this 
grant  of  power,  it  is  not  necessary  for  the  corporation  to  declare 
in  terms  that  the  act  is  a  nuisance.  If  the  act  which  is  punish- 
able be  in  the  nature  of  a  nuisance,  its  status  as  such  is  suffi- 
ciently fixed. 

In  Chicago  vs.  Gunning  System,  73  N.  E.  1,038,  the  matter 
of  regulating  billboards  for  advertising  purposes  is  held  to  be 
a  valid  exercise  of  oolice  power. 

THE  USE  OF  THE  POLICE  POWER 

It  is  there  said  that  it  (police  power)  is  that  inherent  or 
plenary  power  which  enables  the  state  to  prohibit  all  things 
hurtful  to  the  comfort,  safety  and  welfare  of  society,  and  may  be 
termed  the  law  of  overruling  necessity. 


i6 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


It  is  thus  clear  that,  if  the  regulation  of  billboards  for  adver- 
tising purposes  be  within  the  sphere  of  the  operation  of  the 
pohce  power,  any  valid  prohibition  of  the  maintenance  of  bill- 
boards for  advertising  purposes  would  have  to  be  sustained 
under  the  police  power;  as  the  same  power  which  authorizes 
the  regulation  of  a  business  would  have  to  authorize  the  pro- 
hibition of  such  a  business,  if  such  business  could  be  prohibited 
at  all. 

(Here  followed  a  list  of  the  general  things  assigned  by  the 
authorities  as  justifying  the  exercise  of  police  power;  also, 
instances  when  private  property  may  be  destroyed  in  the 
abatement  of  a  nuisance.) 

The  general  principle  running  through  all  the  decisions  is: 
That  the  question  as  to  whether  a  given  act  is  or  is  not  a  nui- 
sance does  not  depend  upon  the  existence  of  any  actual  damage 
from  such  act.  In  other  words,  an  act  may  be  justly  determined 
a  nuisance,  or  the  subject  of  regulation  or  prohibition,  under 
the  police  power,  although  it  has  never  caused  actual  damage 
to  a  citizen  or  to  the  community.  As  was  said  in  the  Gunning 
case,  above  cited:  "Nor  is  it  necessary  that  all  persons  in  the 
community  or,  in  fact,  any  individual  whatever,  should  be 
actually  inconvenienced  or  injured;  but  it  is  sufficient  if  there 
is  a  tendency  to  the  annoyance  of  the  pubHc  by  an  infringement 
of  its  rights,  which  all  are  entitled  to  exercise  if  they  see  fit." 

In  Freund  on  Pohce  Power,  ^1  182,  it  is  said:  "//  is  con- 
ceded that  the  police  power  is  adequate  to  restrain  offensive 
noises  and  odors.  The  same  protection  to  the  eye,  it  is  con- 
ceived, would  not  establish  a  new  principle,  hut  carry  a  recog- 
nized principle  to  further  application.^^ 

WHAT  IS  A  NUISANCE? 

It  is  difficult  to  discover  just  the  line  of  demarcation  that 
separates  the  power  to  restrain  an  act  offensive  to  the  hearing 
and  to  the  sense  of  smell  from  an  act  offensive  to  the  eye. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  a  board  of  trustees  may  not 
declare  an  act  or  omission  a  nuisance  which  is  not  in  fact  a 
nuisance,  and  which  cannot,  under  any  circumstances,  in  fact 
be  a  nuisance.  But  it  does  not  follow  that  many  acts  which  are 
not  in  themselves  nuisances  may  not  he  declared  nuisances 
under  certain  circumstances.  There  can  he  no  question  of  the 
power  of  town  authorities  to  declare  such  acts  to  he  nuisances 
when  circumstances  justify. 

A  billboard  may  be  a  nuisance  or  it  may  not,  and  a  general 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


17 


advertising  business  carried  on  in  a  community  may  be  detri- 
mental to  the  general  welfare,  and  so  become  a  nuisance.  The 
proper  function  of  the  board  of  trustees  is  to  ascertain  and 
declare  the  act  to  be  a  nuisance. 

Under  the  general  laws  of  CaHfornia,  "Anything  which  is 
injurious  to  health,  or  is  indecent  or  offensive  to  the  senses,  or 
an  obstruction  to  the  free  use  of  property,  is  a  nuisance." — 
Civil  Code,  Section  3,479. 

As  apphed  to  the  facts  here,  this  section,  when  analyzed, 
must,  of  necessity,  leave  open  to  some  power  the  determination 
as  to  what  act  is  indecent  or  offensive  to  the  senses,  or  an  ob- 
struction to  the  free  use  of  property,  so  as  to  interfere  with  the 
comfortable  enjoyment  of  life  or  property;  and  Section  862  of 
the  Municipal  Government  Act  commits  to  the  board  of 
trustees  of  a  municipal  corporation  of  the  sixth  class  this 
power. 

The  evidence,  as  recited  in  this  brief,  clearly  shows  that  the 
act  prohibited  was  offensive  to  the  senses,  and  interfered  with 
the  comfort  and  well-being  of  the  community,  and  fully  justified 
the  judgment  of  the  board  of  trustees  that  the  maintenance  of 
the  billboards  under  the  conditions  there  existing  constituted 
a  nuisance  and  should  be  prohibited. 

In  Attorney  General  vs.  WiUiams,  55  N.  B.  77,  the  court 
held  that  the  law-making  power  might  determine  that  the  beauty 
and  attractiveness  of  a  pubhc  park  in  the  capital  of  the  state 
was  a  matter  of  such  public  interest  as  to  call  for  the  expen- 
diture of  public  money  and  justify  the  taking  of  private 
property. 

In  our  own  state,  in  re  Wilshire,  103  Fed.  Rep.  620,  Judge 
Ross  said:  "The  views  in  and  about  a  city,  if  beautiful  and 
unobstructed,  constitute  one  of  its  chief  attractions,  and  in 
that  way  add  to  the  comfort  and  welfare  of  its  people.  Bill- 
boards for  advertising  purposes,  erected  to  any  great  height, 
would  undoubtedly  subject  to  all  of  these,  as  well  as  other 
objections,  and  such  structures  are,  therefore,  plainly  within 
the  regulating  power  of  the  governing  body  of  the  city." 

A  business,  otherwise  lawful,  may  become  a  nuisance  by 
extraneous  circumstances,  such  as  being  located  in  an  inappro- 
priate place,  or  conducted  in  an  improper  manner.  And  some 
law  fid  businesses  are  prima  facie  nuisances  in  certain  localities. 
— 21  Am.  and  Eng.  Ency.  of  Law,  685-690. 

It  would  be  a  singular  result  of  our  law  if  relief  could  not 
be  had  against  the  maintenance,  for  purely  advertising  purposes, 
of  an  uncouth  billboard  erected  opposite  my  house,  having 


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AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


painted  upon  it  grotesque  advertisements  of  wines,  beers  and 
whiskies,  and  constantly,  hourly  and  daily,  a  detriment  to  my 
property,  and  a  serious  injury  to  the  feelings  of  myself  and 
my  family. 

BILLBOARDS  AND  THE  LAW 

Where  the  courts  are  not  prepared,  as  was  Judge  Welch, 
to  declare  billboards  to  be  nuisances  under  existing  laws, 
additional  legislation  may  be  necessary.  Such  appears  to  be 
the  case  in  Massachusetts,  and  Representative  Frank  G. 
Hodgskins,  of  Springfield,  has  introduced  a  measure  to  give 
communities  the  right  to  declare  billboards,  under  certain 
circumstances,  to  be  nuisances.  His  proposed  bill  is  repro- 
duced in  this  connection  for  the  guidance  of  those  who  wish 
to  proceed  along  these  lines. 

A  PROPOSED  MASSACHUSETTS  LAW 

"An  act  relative  to  the  erection  or  maintenance  of  billboards, 
signs  or  signboards  in  cities  and  towns 

"  Be  it  enacted,  etc..  That  a  billboard,  sign,  or  signboard  that 
is  erected  or  maintained  within  the  residential  limits  of  a  city 
or  town  and  within  one  hundred  yards  of  any  dwelling  owned 
or  occupied  by  any  person,  that  is  used  for  advertising  a  busi- 
ness, or  the  sale  of  goods,  wares  or  merchandise  or  the  treat- 
ment of  disease  of  human  being  or  animal,  when  said  business, 
sale  or  treatment  is  not  transacted,  made  or  practised  upon, 
or  does  not  relate  to,  the  premises  whereon  said  advertising 
appears  or  said  billboard,  sign  or  signboard  is  situated,  shall 
be  deemed  a  private  nuisance.  Any  such  owner  or  occupant 
who  is  injured  either  in  the  comfort  or  enjoyment  of  his  estate 
thereby  may  have  an  action  of  tort  for  damages." 

BILLBOARD  LAW  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

Pennsylvania,  through  its  Act  of  1903,  has  already  taken  a 
substantial  step  forward  in  the  regulation  of  the  evil.  This 
measure,  which  was  prepared  by  the  then  President  of  the 
American  Park  and  Outdoor  Art  Association  (one  of  the  two 
constituent  bodies  forming  the  American  Civic  Association), 
forbids  the  posting  of  billboards  on  any  pubHc  building  or 
structure  of  the  state,  county,  city,  or  township  and  borough. 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


19 


and  likewise  forbids  their  posting  on  private  property  without 
the  consent  of  the  owner  or  the  tenant  lawfully  in  possession. 
The  text  of  this  Act  is  given  in  full  because  it  represents  a 
distinctly  helpful  step  in  advance.  It  is  now  the  law  of  Penn- 
sylvania, though  not  as  yet  properly  enforced. 

THE  EXISTING  PENNSYLVANIA  LAW 

"  Section  i.  Be  it  enacted,  etc..  That  no  person  shall  paste, 
paint,  brand  or  stamp,  or  in  any  manner  whatsoever  place  upon 
or  attach  to  any  building,  fence,  bridge,  gate,  outbuilding  or 
other  object,  upon  the  grounds  of  any  charitable,  educational 
or  penal  institutions  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  or  upon  any 
property  belonging  to  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  or  to  any 
county,  township,  borough  or  city  therein,  any  written,  printed, 
painted  or  other  advertisement,  bill,  notice,  sign  or  poster. 

"  Provided,  That  nothing  herein  shall  be  so  constructed  as  to 
prevent  the  posting  of  any  notice  required  by  law  or  order  of 
court  to  be  posted,  nor  to  prevent  the  posting  or  placing  of 
any  notice  particularly  concerning  or  pertaining  to  the  grounds 
or  premises  upon  which  the  same  is  so  posted  or  placed. 

"Sec.  2.  That  no  person  shall  paste,  paint,  brand,  stamp  or 
in  any  manner  whatsoever  place  upon  or  attach  to  any  building, 
fence,  bridge,  gate,  outbuildings  or  property  of  another,  whether 
within  or  without  the  limits  of  a  highway,  any  written,  printed, 
painted,  or  other  advertisement,  bill,  notice  sign,  card  or  poster, 
without  first  having  obtained  the  written  consent  of  the  owner, 
or  tenant  lawfully  in  possession  of  occupancy  thereof: 

"  Provided,  That  nothing  herein  shall  be  so  construed  as  to 
prevent  the  posting  of  any  notice  required  by  law  or  order  of 
court  to  be  posted,  nor  to  prevent  the  posting  or  placing  of 
any  notice  particularly  concerning  or  pertaining  to  the  grounds 
or  premises  upon  which  the  same  is  so  posted  or  placed. 

"Sec.  3.  Every  person  violating  the  provisions  of  this  Act 
shall  be  liable  to  a  penalty  of  not  less  than  five  dollars  nor  more 
than  twenty  dollars,  to  be  recovered  before  any  magistrate  or 
justice  of  the  peace,  as  fines  and  penalties  are  by  law  recover- 
able; and  such  written,  printed,  painted  or  other  advertise- 
ment, bill,  notice,  sign,  card  or  poster  is  hereby  declared  to  be 
a  pubhc  nuisance,  and  may  be  removed  and  abated  as  such." 

Pennsylvanians  should  observe  that  this  existing  law  abso- 
lutely prohibits  signs  on  any  state,  county,  township,  borough 
or  city  property.  The  signs  on  county  bridges,  for  instance, 
are  all  illegal.  Unless  specific  written  permission  can  be  shown, 


20 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


all  signs  on  fences,  barns,  telegraph  poles  and  the  like,  are 
illegal  and  are  public  nuisances,  under  this  law.  Thousands 
of  "sniping"  signs,  pasted  or  tacked  up  without  permission, 
may,  undoubtedly,  be  removed,  under  this  law,  where  its  en- 
forcement is  insisted  upon. 

THE  LOS  ANGELES  (CALIFORNIA)  CASES 

The  billposters  have  been  making  merry  over  Judge 
Bordwell's  decision  sustaining  certain  objections  to  the  Los 
Angeles  ordinances.  They  maintain  that  it  was  a  great  victory, 
overlooking  the  fact  that  the  Judge  declared  that  beyond 
question,  the  regulation  of  the  erection  and  maintenance  oj  hill- 
boards  within  the  city  limits  comes  within  the  proper  exercise 
oj  the  police  power ^ 

The  real  question  which  the  court  had  to  determine  was 
whether  or  not  the  ordinance  under  consideration  was  a  reason- 
able or  unreasonable  exercise  of  the  police  power,  and  it  held 
that  it  was  unreasonable. 

There  are  other  portions  of  the  opinion  that  are  far  from 
giving  aid  and  comfort  to  the  billposters.  Here  are  two  of  them 
as  illustrations: 

There  can  be  no  doubt  whatever  but  that  the  local  govern- 
ment has  the  right,  in  the  exercise  oj  the  police  power,  to  pre- 
vent the  placing  upon  billboards  oj  any  picture,  caricature  or 
printing  which  shocks  the  moral  sense,  or  tends  to  moral  degra- 
dation. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  billboards  themselves  are  unattrac- 
tive, and  that,  in  jact,  they  do  materially  mar  the  general  beauty 
oj  the  city.  And  it  is  likewise  true  that  many  oj  the  advertising 
designs,  instead  oj  being  artistic,  are  hideous  in  their  conception 
and  worse  in  their  execution — positively  shocking  to  the  edu- 
cated, esthetic  sense,  shaming  both  the  advertiser  and  the  designer. 

The  Judge  very  plainly  intimated  that  he  would  sustain 
an  ordinance  free  from  unreasonable  requirements,  and  the 
City  Attorney  of  Los  Angeles  is  at  work  on  a  new  one  which 
will  abate  the  evils  as  effectively  as  the  old,  without  running 
counter  to  fundamental  constitutional  requirements. 

THE  FIFTH  AVENUE  (NEW  YORK)  CASE 

The  substitution  for  some  of  the  old  horse-drawn  stages 
running  on  New  York's  finest  thoroughfare,  Fifth  Avenue,  of 
a  Hne  of  new  motor  stages,  was  hailed  with  joy,  until  the  stages 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


21 


were  completely  covered  with  luridly  painted  tobacco  adver- 
tisements. Strong  objection  was  promptly  made  to  the  signs. 

New  York  has  an  ordinance  which  prohibits  advertising 
wagons  on  the  streets  of  the  Borough  of  Manhattan.  Under 
this  ordinance  and  the  authority  granted  to  the  borough  to 
control  such  matters,  the  city  sought  to  prevent  the  stage 
company  from  carrying  advertising  on  its  busses.  The  Fifth 
Avenue  Coach  Company,  operating  them,  sought  to  enjoin 
municipal  interference,  but,  according  to  the  judge,  failed 
to  estabhsh  "  that  clear  legal  right,  the  existence  of  which  is  a 
condition  indispensable  to  equitable  reHef."  In  the  course  of 
his  decision,  sustaining  the  city,  and  overruHng  the  contention 
of  the  Coach  Company,  Judge  Leventritt  declared: 

"  I  am  referred  to  no  decision  supporting,  and  research  has 
jailed  to  disclose  any  authority  jor  the  plaintiff's  contention  that 
exterior  advertising  on  public  conveyances  is  incidental  to  the 
exercise  of  the  powers  of  common  carriers.  The  adjudicated 
cases  have  gone  no  further  than  to  recognize  and  sanction  the 
right  of  certain  railroad  corporations  to  display  advertising 
signs  in  their  stations  or  to  establish  an  enterprise  which,  while 
not  directly  authorized  by  the  charter,  promoted  the  comfort 
and  convenience  of  passengers,  thereby  contributing  to  the 
legitimate  corporate  business,  merely  because  the  exercise  of 
these  added  privileges  had  become  estabhshed  by  custom. 
Thus,  in  the  City  of  New  York  vs.  Interborough  R.  T.  Co. 
(53  Misc.,  126),  the  right  of  the  Subway  Company  to  rent 
space  for  advertising  signs  and  weighing  machines  in  the 
subway  stations  was  challenged.  A  prehminary  injunction 
was  granted  (47  Misc.,  221),  which,  after  trial,  was  made 
permanent  upon  the  ground  that  the  right  to  maintain  news- 
stands, vending  and  weighing  machines,  and  advertising  signs 
in  stations  is,  as  an  incident  to  the  operation  oj  railways,  based 
upon  a  practically  universal  custom.^' 

In  the  same  opinion  the  judge  declared: 

THE  PROTECTION  OF  FIFTH  AVENUE 

"  Civic  pride  has  prompted  the  protection  of  the  thorough- 
fare from  all  unnecessary  commercial  use  and  traffic.  And, 
although  the  mercantile  invasion,  with  its  consequent  disfigure- 
ment, has  tended  to  mar  the  picture.  Fifth  avenue  has,  never- 
theless, maintained  a  general  appearance  of  architectural 
superiority.  It  is  amid  such  scenes  as  this  that  the  plaintiff's 
advertising  panorama  of  brilHant  signs  moves.  It  is  along  this 


22 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


avenue  of  churches  that  on  Sunday  these  glaring  billboards  are 
driven.  It  is  this  scheme  of  beauty  which  is  sacrificed  to  the 
demands  of  modern  commercialism.  It  is  along  this  entrance 
to  parks,  and  along  the  parks  themselves  preserved  to  attract 
lovers  of  nature  and  of  the  beautiful,  that  these  unnatural  and 
inartistic  moving  picture  signs  are  displayed.  But,  out  of  place, 
disagreeable  and  offensive  as  they  are,  both  to  civic  pride  and 
esthetic  taste,  and,  although  the  tendency  of  equity  jurispru- 
dence is  to  extend  the  court's  jurisdiction  to  include  this  situ- 
ation, the  ultimate  fact  remains  that  no  authority  now  exists 
(i.  e.,  in  New  York,)  which  will  justify  the  legal  conclusion  that 
the  plaintiff's  signs  constitute  a  nuisance." 

He  also  quoted  and  applied  it  to  the  case  in  hand  the  opinion 
of  Justice  Scott,  in  Tompkins  vs.  Pallas  (47  Misc.,  309),  which 
was  an  action  brought  to  enjoin  the  use  of  a  fence  inclosing  a 
portion  of  one  of  the  city  parks  for  billboard  advertising  pur- 
poses: 

BUSINESS  ADVERTISEMENTS  IN  PARKS 

"A  public  park  has  been  defined  by  the  Court  of  Appeals 
as  'a  piece  of  ground  inclosed  for  the  purposes  of  pleasure, 
exercise,  amusement,  or  ornament'  (Perrin  vs.  N.  Y.,  etc.  R. 
Co.,  36  N.  Y.,  120),  and  commissioners  charged  with  the  care 
of  such  parks  have  often  been  held  justified  in  granting  licenses 
for  the  maintenance  within  parks  of  such  conveniences  as 
would  enhance  the  opportunities  of  the  public  to  use  and  enjoy 
the  parks  as  places  of  resort,  amusement,  recreation  and  exer- 
cise. In  every  case,  however,  in  which  the  exercise  of  this 
power  has  been  sustained,  it  has  been  because  the  use  author- 
ized has,  in  some  way,  contributed  to  the  use  and  enjoyment 
of  parks  by  the  pubhc.  The  defendent,  Pallas,  gives  in  his 
affidavit  opposing  this  motion,  a  fist  of  some  of  the  licenses 
heretofore  granted  with  respect  to  the  city's  parks,  including 
restaurants,  refreshment  stands,  boats,  stages,  boathouses 
and  flower-stands.  This  very  list  of  itself  shows  that  hereto- 
fore the  issue  of  licenses  has  been  limited  to  objects  which 
would  tend  to  afford  additional  facilities  for  the  beneficial 
use  and  enjoyment  of  the  parks  by  the  public,  and  have  come 
to  be  generally  recognized  as  appropriate  aids  to  the  full  en- 
joyment of  pubhc  pleasure  grounds.  No  such  claim  can  be 
made  for  the  advertisements  of  which  the  plaintiff  complains. 
//  is  too  obvious  to  require  demonstration  that  business  adver- 
tisements painted  upon  a  board  jence  contribute  nothing  to  the 
beneficial  use  oj  the  park  by  the  public. 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


23 


BILLBOARDS  NEAR  PARKS 

In  this  connection,  St.  Paul  has  taken  a  forward  step,  albeit 
a  somewhat  short  one.  By  a  vote  of  six  to  one,  the  local  assem- 
bly passed,  at  the  request  of  the  Park  Board,  an  ordinance 
prohibiting  the  erection  of  any  billboards  or  signboards  within 
one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  of  any  park  or  parkway.  One  mem- 
ber of  the  assembly  brought  up  the  time-honored  argument 
that,  in  many  places,  a  billboard  served  to  obscure  unsightly 
places.  No  doubt  billboards  do  cover  a  multitude  of  sins  of 
omission  and  commission,  but  it  can  scarcely  be  considered 
to  be  sound  morals  to  advocate  increasing  the  supply  of  sin- 
covering  rather  than  the  elimination  of  the  sins. 

Fortunately,  this  assemblyman  was  in  a  lonely  minority  of 
one,  and  affirmative  action  was  taken  at  once;  as  it  was  pointed 
out  that  the  ordinance  did  not  interfere  with  any  boards  already 
erected,  and  that  any  delay  in  its  passage  would  have  the  effect 
of  causing  the  bill-posters  to  put  up  all  the  boards  they  could 
before  the  measure  should  become  a  law. 

This  St.  Paul  effort,  therefore,  has  two  important  lessons: 
It  points  the  way  to  an  effective  measure  of  prevention,  and  it 
teaches  the  wisdom  of  taking  time  by  the  forelock.  Too  often 
legislative  action  comes  after  the  evil  has  been  done,  and  then 
the  offenders  are  given  a  chance  to  plead  vested  rights. 


BILLBOARD  TAXATION  AND 
REGULATION 

Taxation  is  coming  to  be  regarded  as  a  favorite  weapon 
against  the  billboard.  To  quote  the  "New  York  Tribune": — 
"We  think  the  abuse  could  be  made  to  correct  itself  in  a  few 
years  if  the  State  would  authorize  the  laying  of  a  graduated 
tax  on  street  signs,  the  tax  increasing  with  the  square  area 
covered.  The  government  would  either  make  a  considerable 
revenue  out  of  such  a  tax,  or  the  increased  cost  of  posters  would 
compel  a  change  in  present  methods.  To  artistic,  modest  and 
sensible  advertising  there  can  be  no  objection.  But  we  owe  it 
to  our  sense  of  municipal  good  order  and  dignity  to  blot  out 
the  extravagant  and  tasteless  poster  spread  indiscriminately 
over  fences  and  walls.  We  have  much  to  learn  from  the  wise 
practice  of  European  cities  in  dealing  with  the  street  adver- 
tising problem." 

According  to  the  Philadelphia  "Press,"  billboards  should 


24 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


be  taxed  to  death.  "  The  township  of  South  New  Brunswick, 
in  New  Jersey,  has  given  the  billboard  men  a  bad  turn  by  im- 
posing a  tax  on  their  flaring  signs.  The  owners  complain  that 
the  tax  will  drive  them  out  of  business. 

"  This  plea  is  met  by  the  statement  that  the  disappearance 
of  their  signboards  would  bring  much  joy  to  many  people, 
as  they  disfigure  the  landscape,  cut  off  the  view,  annoy  observers 
and  probably  profit  nobody  but  the  billboard  men,  as  it  is 
hardly  conceivable  that  any  one  will  care  to  purchase  a  com- 
modity thrust  upon  their  attention  in  an  offensive  fashion. 

"The  billboard  men  occasionally  do  positive  injury  with 
their  signs.  Princeton  University  is,  for  the  most  part,  veiled 
by  the  trees  which  adorn  its  campus,  but  some  of  the  newer 
buildings  are  outside  of  the  tree  line,  and  the  glimpse  obtained 
from  passing  trains  of  the  Princeton  ridge  and  the  University 
buildings  is  an  exceedingly  pleasing  one,  and  is  a  legitimate 
advertisement  of  the  institution,  which  ought  not  to  be  destroyed 
Yet  the  billboard  men  have  decreed  that,  instead  of  viewing 
the  University,  passengers  on  the  train  shall  read  of  the  merits 
of  certain  medicines  or  whiskies,  or  the  advantages  of  using 
some  highly  extolled  soap. 

"An  industry  that  thus  offends  and  cuts  off  the  traveler's 
right  of  unobstructed  view  is  an  entirely  proper  subject  for  tax- 
ation. If  it  is  taxed  to  death,  so  much  the  better. 

And,  as  the  Trenton  "Times,"  in  commenting  on  this 
phase  of  the  subject,  declared,  "  It  may  not  be  possible  to  tax 
all  the  billboards  out  of  existence,  as  Governor  Murphy  sug- 
gested, but  it  is  possible  to  greatly  reduce  their  number, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  afford  a  Httle  rehef  to  the  other  tax- 
payers of  the  state.  The  good  work  has  been  started  in  Kearney, 
South  Brunswick  and  Trenton;  now  let  the  assessors  all  over 
the  state  follow  it  up.  It  they  fail  to  do  so,  the  county  tax 
boards  should  prod  them  on  to  the  performance  of  their  duty." 

Supervisor  Murphy,  of  San  Francisco,  has  introduced  two 
ordinances  having  for  their  objects  the  regulation  of  billboards 
and  their  taxation.  One  provides  that  a  billboard  shall  not  be 
erected  of  more  than  eight  feet  in  height  and  ten  feet  in  length 
without  permission  of  the  pohce  authorities,  and  no  board 
shall  exceed  ten  feet  in  height.  The  measure  is  so  drawn  that 
it  shall  be  unlawful  to  maintain  a  board  of  greater  dimensions, 
thus  insuring  the  removal  of  some  of  the  unsightly  sights  which 
now  cover  the  city.  It  is  also  proposed  that  no  billboard  un- 
attached to  a  building  shall  be  within  twenty  feet  of  the  prop- 
erty Hne.  There  is  attached  to  this  ordinance  a  penalty  of  $200 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


25 


fine,  or  ten  days'  imprisonment,  or  both,  in  the  discretion  of 
the  court. 

Taxation  is  proposed  in  the  second  ordinance,  the  rate 
being  one  cent  upon  every  quarter  of  a  square  foot,  or  four 
cents  a  square  foot.  Thus,  a  board  8  x  lo  feet  would  net  the 
city,  under  the  Murphy  ordinance,  $3.20  a  year. 

THE  AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION'S  MODEL 
BILLBOARD  LAWS 

The  American  Civic  Association,  beheving  that  taxation 
is  a  fair  and  effective  method  of  regulation,  has  had  prepared 
three  bills  giving  to  local  authorities  power  to  regulate  and  to 
impose  license  taxes,  and  also  to  see  that  billboard  structures 
are  specially  assessed.  These  measures  are  here  printed  in 
full.  During  the  present  year  (1908)  the  first  has  been  intro- 
duced into  a  number  of  state  legislatures,  and  next  year,  when 
the  great  majority  of  such  bodies  will  meet,  it  will  be  introduced 
in  them,  and  pressed  with  all  the  vigor  and  resources  at  the 
Association's  command. 

I.    PROPOSED  STATE  LAW,  GIVING  POWER 
OF  REGULATION 

An  act  granting  to  cities,  boroughs,  counties  and  townships  power 
to  regulate  outdoor  advertising,  to  levy  and  collect  license  taxes 
in  connection  therewith,  and  to  fix  and  collect  penalties  for 
violation  made  under  its  authority. 

Section  i.  The  term  "outdoor  advertising,"  as  used  in 
this  Act,  shall  include  all  such  advertising  so  displayed  as  to 
attract  the  attention  of  persons  on  any  public  highway  or  while 
in  the  vehicle  of  any  common  carrier,  or  in  any  station  of  such 
carrier,  or  while  in  any  public  building,  public  park,  public 
grounds  or  other  public  place,  whether  such  advertising  be 
by  means  of  printing,  writing,  painting  pictures,  or  a  combi- 
nation thereof,  and  whatever  may  be  the  means  of  display, 
except  that  it  shall  not  include  advertising  located  upon 
private  property  relating  exclusively  to  the  business  con- 
ducted in  such  property  or  to  the  sale  or  rental  thereof. 

Sec.  2.  In  order  to  preserve  the  health,  safety,  morals, 
and  comforts  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  commonwealth,  every 
city,  borough,  county,  and  township  thereof  shall  have  power 
in  its  corporate  capacity  to  regulate  outdoor  advertising  both 
as  to  the  place  where  such  advertising  may  be  permitted,  the 


26 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


character  of  the  structures  upon  which  it  may  be  placed, 
and  the  subject  matter  that  may  appear  thereon,  provided 
such  regulations  shall  be  reasonable  in  their  requirements. 

Sec.  3.  In  order  to  more  effectively  exercise  the  power 
hereby  conferred,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  such  cities,  boroughs, 
counties  and  townships  to  levy  and  collect  such  license  tax  upon 
outdoor  advertising  as  may  be  necessary  to  defray  the  expense 
of  inspection,  and  to  require  the  payment  of  the  same  before 
such  advertising  may  be  permitted,  and  where  the  advertising 
is  of  a  permanent  nature,  to  require  the  payment  of  such  an 
annual  license  tax  as  shall  defray  the  expense  of  inspection 
thereof  from  time  to  time,  as  may  be  required. 

Sec.  4.  The  said  cities,  boroughs,  counties  and  townships 
shall  have  power  to  collect  said  hcense  taxes  as  debts  are  by 
law  collectible,  with  appropriate  penalties  for  delay  in  payment. 
They  shall  also  have  power  to  fix  and  collect,  as  debts  are  by 
law  collectable,  a  penalty  of  not  more  than  one  hundred  dollars 
($100)  for  each  erection  of  outdoor  advertising  in  disregard 
of  regulations  made  under  the  authority  of  this  Act,  and  to 
immediately  remove  any  such  outdoor  advertising  erected 
in  disregard  of  such  regulations  or  for  which  the  Hcense  taxes 
imposed  by  the  same  authority  have  not  been  paid. 


n.     PROPOSED   STATE   LAW,  IMPOSING  A 
STATE  LICENSE  TAX 

This  law  seeks  to  locate  responsibiHty,  to  equitably  tax 
outdoor  advertising,  and  to  place  a  penalty  on  "sniping." 
It  supplements  the  first  act. 

An  act  to  impose  a  license  tax  upon  individuals,  firms,  corpo- 
rations or  associations  of  individuals  engaged  in  the  business  of 
displaying  outdoor  advertising,  and  imposing  penalties  for  vio- 
lations of  its  provisions. 

Section  i.  The  term  "outdoor  advertising,"  as  used  in 
this  Act,  shall  include  all  such  advertising  so  displayed  as  to 
attract  the  attention  of  persons  on  any  public  highway,  or 
while  in  the  vehicle  of  any  common  carrier,  or  in  any  station 
of  such  carrier,  or  while  in  any  public  building,  public  park, 
public  grounds,  or  other  public  place,  whether  such  advertising 
be  by  means  of  printing,  writing,  painting  pictures,  or  a  com- 
bination thereof,  and  whatever  may  be  the  means  of  display, 
except  that  it  shall  not  include  advertising  located  upon  private 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


27 


property  and  relating  exclusively  to  the  business  conducted  on 
such  property  or  the  sale  or  rental  thereof. 

Sec.  2.  Every  individual,  firm,  corporation  or  association 
of  individuals  engaged  in  the  business  of  displaying  outdoor 
advertising  by  any  means  whatever,  shall  be  required  to  pay 
an  annual  license  tax  for  the  use  of  the  Commonwealth  (State) 
in  the  sum  of  one  hundred  dollars,  which  sum  shall  be  col- 
lectible through  the  officers,  local  or  state,  by  whom  similar 
taxes  are  now  by  law  collectible,  and  in  the  manner  provided 
by  law  for  the  collection  of  such  taxes. 

Sec.  3.  All  such  individuals,  firms,  corporations  or  asso- 
ciations of  individuals  engaged  in  displaying  outdoor  adver- 
tising shall  be  required  to  place  upon  each  item  or  piece  such 
display  in  the  lower  left  hand  corner  thereof  the  name  of  such 
individual,  firm,  corporation  or  association  of  individuals  dis- 
playing such  advertising,  together  with  the  number  of  its  license. 

Sec.  4.  Any  individual,  firm,  corporation  or  association  of 
individuals  which  shall  engage  in  the  business  of  displaying 
outdoor  advertising  without  first  having  complied  with  the 
provisions  of  Section  2  of  this  Act,  or  which  shall  violate  the 
provisions  of  Section  3  thereof,  shall  be  subject  to  a  penalty 
of  twenty-five  dollars  for  each  and  every  item  or  piece  of  any 
display  of  outdoor  advertising  made  by  it  in  violation  of  either 
of  said  sections,  which  penalty  shall  be  collected  as  debts  are 
by  law  collectible  at  the  suit  of  the  Commonwealth  (State). 


III.     PROPOSED    STATE   LAW,  PROVIDING 
FOR  THE   EQUITABLE  ASSESSMENT 
OF  BILLBOARDS  FOR  TAXATION 

In  but  few  places  are  billboards  assessed  for  general  taxation, 
at  present.  If  a  man  erects  four  walls  of  any  sort  and  puts  a 
roof  over  them,  the  assessors  discover  the  structure  as  an 
"improvement,"  and  add  to  his  assessment;  but  if  he  omits  the 
roof,  and  covers  any  or  all  of  the  walls  with  advertising,  he  is 
seldom  visited  with  any  additional  assessment.  The  farmer 
who,  for  a  consideration  of  some  sort,  permits  his  barn  or  out- 
building to  be  painted  black  and  yellow  with  "Castoria,"  or 
the  city  householder  who  gives  up  his  side-wall  to  a  staring 
"Coca-Cola"  sign,  does  not  have  his  assessment  increased, 
even  though  he  derives  additional  revenue  from  the  adver- 
tising. The  following  Act  seeks  to  have  all  such  properties 
bear  an  equitable  share  of  taxation. 


28 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


An  act  to  provide  for  the  taxation  of  real  estate  based  upon  its 
value  for  purposes  of  outdoor  advertising. 

Section  i.  The  term  "outdoor  advertising,"  as  used  in 
this  Act,  shall  include  all  such  advertising  so  displayed  as  to 
attract  the  attention  of  persons  on  any  pubhc  highway,  or 
while  in  the  vehicle  of  any  common  carrier,  or  in  any  station 
of  such  carrier,  or  while  in  any  public  building,  public  park, 
pubhc  grounds,  or  other  public  place,  whether  such  adver- 
tising be  by  means  of  printing,  writing,  painting  pictures,  or 
a  combination  thereof,  and  whatever  may  be  the  means  of 
display  except  that  it  shall  not  include  advertising  located 
upon  private  property  and  relating  exclusively  to  the  business 
conducted  in  such  property  or  the  sale  or  rental  thereof. 

Sec.  2.  Hereafter,  assessors  and  such  other  ofiQcers  as  now 
are  or  hereafter  may  be  authorized  and  required  by  law  to 
assess  property  for  purposes  of  state  or  local  taxation  in  this 
Commonwealth  (State),  shall  assess  as  taxable  property  under 
the  terms  "land,"  "real  estate,"  and  "real  property,"  not  only 
the  land  itself,  and  such  buildings  and  structures  thereon  as 
are  now  by  law  assessable,  but  also  all  such  buildings  or  struc- 
tures in  or  upon  which  outdoor  advertising  is  displayed  and, 
in  computing  the  value  of  such  structures  for  purposes  of 
taxation,  or  of  other  buildings  or  structures  now  taxed  upon 
which  outdoor  advertising  is  displayed,  shall  take  into  con- 
sideration and  shall  assess  the  value  of  such  buildings  and 
structures  for  purposes  of  outdoor  advertising,  which  valuation 
shall  be  not  less  than  three  dollars  per  square  foot  of  the  sur- 
face actually  used  for  such  advertising. 

Sec.  3.  Taxes  so  assessed  shall  be  collectible  in  the  manner 
provided  by  law  in  the  various  localities  in  which  the  prop- 
erty is  situated. 

BILLBOARD  MISCELLANY 

THE  METHODS  OF  THE  MINISTER  MILITANT 

The  methods  of  the  "Minister  Militant"  of  Blandford, 
Mass.  (Reverend  S.  G.  Wood),  are  most  interesting.  Armed 
with  an  ax,  and  aided  by  his  son,  a  college  graduate,  while 
the  fight  of  Blandford  against  the  invasion  of  bill-posters 
was  at  its  height,  he  set  out  each  morning  in  a  team,  scouring 
the  town  for  advertising  signs,  and  tearing  down  all  he  could 
find,  whether  upon  the  highways  or  upon  private  property. 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


29 


Then,  when  the  advertising  agents  discovered  what  was  hap- 
pening to  the  signs  they  had  so  industriously  put  up,  they 
sought  Mr.  Wood  and  expostulated  with  him;  but  all  to  no 
purpose,  as  he  calmly  pointed  out  that  what  he  had  done  was 
within  the  law. 

Many  measures  were  employed  to  defeat  him  in  his  attempt 
to  keep  the  town  beautiful.  Some  were  successful  for  a  time, 
but  in  the  end  it  was  the  minister  who  came  off  with  flying 
colors.  To  outwit  him  in  his  crusade,  permission  was  sought 
from  owners  of  private  property  to  put  up  signs,  and  wherever 
it  was  obtained  the  signs  went  up  in  large  numbers.  This  was 
supposed  to  put  an  end  to  the  minister's  destructive  methods, 
but  he,  knowing  the  property  owners  better  than  the  adver- 
tisers, easily  prevailed  upon  them  to  have  the  signs  removed; 
and,  as  he  did  the  work  of  taking  them  down  himself,  they  came 
down,  and  that  quickly. 

Then  Mr.  Wood's  foes  built  high  in  the  trees  along  the 
country  roads  little  wooden  signs  which  announced  the  value 
of  a  certain  yeast.  No  sooner  did  the  minister  learn  of  this  than, 
hitching  up  his  horse,  he  took  to  the  warpath.  True,  he  was 
fifty-two,  and  a  Httle  too  old  to  be  chmbing  trees;  but  then  he 
had  a  son,  and  this  son  was  an  athlete,  so  that  what  the  father 
failed  to  do,  the  son  found  but  child's  play  Now  it  is  said  that 
every  time  his  horse  sees  an  advertising  sign  he  stops  and  re- 
fuses to  go  on  again  until  it  has  been  torn  down. 

Mr.  Wood  tells  of  his  meeting  with  an  agent  who  had  been 
most  persistent  in  using  fences  and  trees  as  a  medium  for  telhng 
of  the  wonderful  value  of  yeast: 

"  Just  as  I  was  going  out  before  breakfast,  one  morning," 
he  said,  "a  man  with  a  bag  swung  over  his  shoulder  entered 
and  placed  a  package  within  my  front  doorway.  It  did  not 
occur  to  me  that  it  was  my  friend,  the  enemy,  but  there  on  the 
floor  lay  a  yeast  cake.  This  is  a  perfectly  legitimate  way  of 
advertising,  and  I  find  no  objection  to  it,  but  unhappy  visions 
of  placarded  roadsides  came  to  me,  and  I  determined  to  make 
it  my  business  of  the  morning  to  lay  for  this  man. 

"Several  trips  to  store  and  hotel,  a  breakfast  interrupted 
in  the  middle,  and  a  final  settling  down  in  a  chair  on  the  hotel 
piazza  in  waiting  attitude,  brought  at  last  the  desired  interview. 

"Immediately  upon  the  agent's  emerging  from  the  house 
I  accosted  him  and  proceeded  to  present  my  cause,  which  I 
announced  as  a  request  which  would  doubtless  be  unconvincing 
to  him,  but  which  I  was  there  to  present,  namely,  that  he  would 
henceforth  refrain  from  using  our  town  highways  as  a  vehicle 


30 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


for  his  advertising;  it  was  obnoxious  to  citizens  of  good  taste; 
we  had  cleared  the  roads  once  by  an  organized  campaign,  and 
we  desired  that  the  cleaning  be  permanent. 

"He  suggested  that  I  had  better  write  to  the  company.  I 
assured  him  that  I  would  certainly  do  so,  but  meantime  I 
wanted  him  to  stop.  He  answered  that  he  would  not  do  it. 
He  did  not  seem  to  comprehend,  so  I  added  that  it  would  do 
no  good  for  him  to  continue;  he  was  wasting  his  time  and  the 
company's  time. 

"  I  had  already  destroyed  hundreds  of  his  ads.  He  did  not 
ask  me  who  I  was,  and  I  did  not  tell  him.  'Do  you  mean  to 
say  that  you  are  going  right  to  Westfield  this  morning,  putting 
up  those  things  in  the  face  of  all  I  have  said  to  you?'  I  asked. 
'  Yes,'  he  said.  '  Then  I  shall  follow  behind  you,  and  take  them 
down  as  fast  as  you  put  them  up.' 

"  Then  we  parted,  I  in  coolness,  he  in  heat,  with  the  remark 
that  this  was  a  pretty  kind  of  a  place,  or  something  of  the  sort, 
and,  as  a  parting  fling,  posting  one  of  his  labels  on  the  store 
front  near-by.  I  gave  him  the  solace  of  a  blessing  on  that,  as 
it  was  the  one  legitimate  place  in  town  where  it  belonged." 

The  editor,  having  had  suggested  to  him  that  possibly  the 
law  had  been  transgressed  some  Httle  by  the  Mihtant  Minister, 
or  possibly  stretched  a  little,  asked  the  active  and  alert  secre- 
tary of  the  Massachusetts  Civic  League,  Edward  T.  Hartman, 
about  the  law,  with  the  following  result: 

"The  'minister  mihtant'  is,  of  course,  on  the  safe  side. 
No  good  warrior  goes  to  war  without  a  formal  declaration, 
and  without  international  law  safely  on  his  side.  When  you 
recall  that  Mr.  Wood  has  repeatedly  told  these  people  what 
he  proposed  to  do,  you  can  see  that  he  is  fighting  in  the  open. 
It  would  be  a  queer  state,  or  a  queer  court,  and  a  queer  set 
of  laws  which  would  prevent  him  from  tearing  any  thing  down 
which  was  put  up  by  any  one  against  the  wishes  of  the  pubhc 
and  without  the  permission  of  the  owner  of  the  property. 

"  I  think  this  law  only  affirms  what  must  be  held  by  courts 
as  a  substantial  principle,  and  that  is  that  if  I  go  along  tacking 
or  pasting  up  offensive-looking  stuff  on  public  property,  or 
on  private  property,  without  permission  in  either  case,  you  may 
go  along  and  tear  it  down  equally  without  permission.  The 
permission  is  granted  in  this  instance,  however,  although, 
possibly,  Mr.  Wood  has  not  always  adhered  rigidly  to  boundary 
lines,  as  you  will  note  that  specific  permission  to  tear  down  is 
not  given  except  when  the  stuff  is  within  the  limits  of  the 
highway.  I  presume  it  is  somewhat  difficult  to  describe  the 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


31 


limits  of  the  highway  where  it  runs  through  a  forest  and  there 
are  no  fences." 


THE  NIAGARA  TEST 

Through  the  helpful  aid  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  New 
York  State  Reservation  at  Niagara,  the  American  Civic  Asso- 
ciation had  distributed  to  visitors  as  they  came  from  Goat 
Island,  after  seeing  the  majesty  of  Niagara  Falls,  double  post- 
cards, one  portion  containing  a  picture  of  the  Falls  which  might 
be  mailed  to  friends,  while  the  other  was  addressed  to  the 
"American  Civic  Association,  Philadelphia,"  and  requested 
repHes  to  these  questions: 

Have  you  noticed  the  advertising  signs  on  the  Canadian 
side  of  the  Gorge,  near  the  end  oj  the  steel  arch  bridge? 

^' Do  you  find  them,  on  the  whole,  pleasing  or  displeasing? 

"Are  you  more  likely  to  buy  the  articles  advertised  by  reason 
of  seeing  these  signs  at  Niagara  Falls ?^* 

Spaces  for  the  name  and  address  of  the  writer  were  provided. 

In  explanation  of  the  crusade  against  the  billboards,  the 
post-cards  contain  this  paragraph: 

"The  American  Civic  Association  is  anxious  to  learn,  so 
far  as  possible,  how  the  eitjoy?nent  of  the  visitors  to  Niagara 
Falls  is  affected,  if  at  all,  by  the  large  advertising  signs  exhibited 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  Falls.  You  are,  therefore,  respectfully 
requested  to  answer  these  questions  and  to  deposit  this  card 
in  the  box  provided  at  the  Goat  Island  shelter,  close  to  the  end 
of  the  bridge,  or,  if  more  convenient,  to  mail  it.''^ 

The  following  is  a  tabulation  of  the  returns  received: 


Question  i,  answer  "Yes"  :  

Question  i,  answer  "No"  

Question  i,  answer  blank   

Question  2,  answer  "Pleasing"  ... 
Question  2,  answer  "Displeasing" 

(or  some  more  emphatic  word)  .  . 

Question  2,  answer  blank   

Question  3,  answer  "No"  (or  some 

more  emphatic  word)  

Question  3,  answer  "Yes"   

Question  3,  answer  blank   


Number. 

Ratio  to  total 
number  of 
cards  re- 
turned 

Ratio  to  total 
answers  to 
questions. 

Per  cent 

Per  cent 

293 

98 

99 

IS 

I 

14 

I 

38 

11.8 

12.4 

269 

84 

87.6 

IS 

4.6 

4-7 

270 

84 

87.6 

37 

11.8 

12.4 

15 

4.6 

4-7 

32 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


The  geographical  distribution  of  those  answering  the  Associa- 
tion's inquiries  is  given  in  this  table: 


California   5 

Canada    6 

Connecticut   4 

District  of  Columbia    4 

England   2 

Georgia   3 

Germany    i 

Illinois   24 

Indiana   4 

Indian  Territory   i 

Iowa   4 

Kansas   3 

Louisiana    2 

Maryland   3 

Massachusetts   16 

Michigan   14 


Mississippi   i 

Missouri   7 

Montana    i 

New  Jersey  14 

New  York  83 

North  Carolina   i 

Ohio  _  33 

Pennsylvania  58 

Rhode  Island    i 

Scotland   2 

South  Carolina   i 

Tennessee    3 

Texas   4 

Virginia   2 

Wisconsin    5 

Miscellaneous   10 


THE  PRESS  AND  BILLBOARDS 

East  and  West,  North  and  South,  newspapers  and  maga- 
zines really  interested  in  better  living  conditions  have  declared 
themselves  against  obtrusive  billboard  advertising.  A  few  edi- 
torial expressions  are  given  here,  as  showing  the  feeling  of 
these  creators  of  public  opinion. 

Agricultural  Advertising,  Chicago,  111. 

In  truth,  however,  the  billboard  men  have  only  themselves  to 
thank  for  the  persistent  agitation  aginst  their  business.  They  have 
not  been  quick  to  recognize  the  bounds  and  demands  of  decency. 
They  have,  in  many  instances,  outraged  public  sentiment.  They 
have  too  often  assumed  an  arrogant  and  offensive  manner,  and 
resented  perfectly  legitimate  ''interference." 

For  all  of  which  they  are  now  paying  the  price  of  a  constantly 
increasing  hostility  on  the  part  of  a  portion  of  the  public. 

Whether  adverse  sentiment  grows  to  the  point  of  prohibition  or 
not,  depends  upon  the  bill-posters  themselves.  The  day  is  past,  in 
America,  when  any  man  can  say  with  impunity,  "The  public  be 
damned."  The  sign-man  can  no  more  defy  public  sentiment  than 
can  the  railway  president — not  so  much,  because  the  general  public 
must  have  railways,  but  a  large  share  of  the  general  public  is  still 
in  so  benighted  a  condition  that  it  does  not  recognize  that  a  signboard 
is  "absolutely  indispensable  in  every  well-regulated  community." 

The  sign-man  will  be  "regulated"  or  exterminated — one  or  the 
other. 

Plaindealer,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

Fighting  the  Billboards. — That  the  airship  was  invented 
because  of  man's  constant  desire  to  escape  the  billboards  is  a  sug- 
gestion offered  tentatively  by  the  "New  York  Tribune."  Regardless 
of  whether  this  thesis  can  or  cannot  be  proved,  it  must  certainly  be 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


33 


counted  one  of  the  advantages  of  ballooning  over  automobiling  that 
its  devotees  are  not  continually  assailed  by  these  advertising  mon- 
strosities. .  .  .  The  agitation  against  billboards,  however,  will 
not  be  quieted.  Public  opinion  is  becoming  more  and  more  aroused, 
and  before  this  tribunal  nothing  desirable  is  impossible. 

Courier,  Louisville,  Ky. 

The  Billboard  Nuisance. — There  is  no  question  as  to  unregu- 
lated billboard  advertising  being  an  infringement  upon  the  rights  of 
property  owners,  an  aiSiction  to  a  community  and  an  evil  influence 
upon  the  value  of  real  estate. 

Few  prospective  purchasers  would  look  with  equal  favor  upon  two 
pieces  of  property,  one  of  which  is  situated  between  two  residences 
with  well-kept  lawns,  and  the  other  between  two  vacant  lots  devoted 
to  unsightly  billboard  advertising.  Every  property  owner  has  the 
right  to  demand  of  the  local  government  the  protection  of  his  prop- 
erty from  nuisances  that  affect  its  price  injuriously. 

Oklahoman,  Oklahoma  City,  Okla. 

Billboard  Nuisance. — ^Oklahoma  City  should  begin  giving 
its  attention  to  the  billboard  nuisance  that  has  caused  so  much  trouble 
in  other  municipalities.  The  billboard  has  been  condemned  as  a 
lurking  place  for  rowdies,  as  a  dumping  place  for  refuse,  and  a 
danger  place  in  storm  and  conflagration. 

Democrat,  Little  Rock,  Ark. 

Disfiguring  Billboards. — The  city  officials  are  to  be  com- 
mended for  the  crusade  against  the  disfiguring  billboards,  especially 
those  that  flaunt  their  ugliness  on  Main  street. 

If  Little  Rock  is  to  be  made  a  City  Beautiful,  the  billboards  must 
be  relegated  to  the  back  streets,  and,  if  thereby  they  lose  their  value 
as  an  advertising  medium,  that  is  not  the  fault  of  the  public. 

The  billboard  is  condemned  all  over  the  country  as  an  unsightly 
obstruction  of  the  streets,  and  the  nuisance  has  been  encroaching 
upon  Little  Rock  for  some  time  until  it  must  have  an  end  somewhere, 
and  the  earlier  the  better. 

Telegraph,  Colorado  Springs,  Colo. 

The  locality  around  the  1400  block  on  North  Tejon  street  has 
just  been  made  the  victim  of  a  billboard  debauchery  of  the  worst  type. 
We  speak  of  this  particular  place,  because  the  people  have  been  long- 
suffering  and  have  endured  in  that  block,  a  nasty  livery  stable  for 
some  five  or  six  years,  despite  all  efforts  to  uproot  it,  and  notwith- 
standing the  very  evident  damage  to  property. 

And  now  this  second  affront  has  come  to  them,  and  they  are 
asked  to  pass  it  by  in  silence,  and  be  content  to  see  one  of  the  best 
residence  sections  of  the  city  violated  in  this  way. 

The  city  ordinance  expressly  provides  against  such  a  nuisance 
and  damage,  but,  unfortunately,  the  remainder  of  the  passage  through 
the  courts  is  not  so  clear.  One  judge  has  held  that  it  must  be  proved, 
under  the  Colorado  law,  that  the  board  is  a  nuisance  and  that  dam- 
age is  done. 

Everybody  knows  that  a  billboard  is  a  nuisance  and  an  eyesore, 
and  that  it  damages  all  property  in  the  neighborhood.  We  fail  to  see 
why  there  should  be  such  hesitancy  upon  the  part  of  the  courts  in 


34 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


plainly  saying  so.  No  man  or  corporation  should  be  permitted  to 
ravage  around  and  injure  other  people's  property  by  stables  or  bill- 
boards, or  other  nuisance,  merely  because  he  owns  adjoining  prop- 
erty or  has  a  lease  upon  it. 

Democrat,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Billboard  Aggression. — In  all  Paris  there  is  not  a  billboard 
on  the  American  plan.  That  city  has  not  beautified  itself  for  the 
enjoyment  of  its  own  people  and  the  world,  to  go  into  hiding  behind 
huge  fences  covered  with  all  sorts  of  fantastic,  vulgar  and  crime- 
breeding  pictures.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  see  the  representation  of  a 
murder,  with  life-size  figures,  on  an  American  billboard,  vi^ith  all  the 
attendant  features  of  a  deed  of  blood.  Suggestions  of  crime  and 
licentiousness  are  plastered  broadcast  throughout  a  city. 

News,  Pasadena,  Cal. 

Unsightly  Billboards  Upheld. — Leaving  out  of  the  question 
all  reference  to  the  esthetic  or  moral  sense  of  the  community,  the 
*'News"  cannot  avoid  believing  that  what  substantially  detracts 
from  the  enjoyment  of  surrounding  property  by  the  owners  for  the 
purposes  for  which  it  is  used  affects  a  substantial  right  such  as 
would  make  it  a  proper  subject  for  local  regulation  by  ordinance. 
Such  ordinances  have  been  sustained  in  very  many  states. 

Journal,  Elizabeth,  N.  J. 

Anti-Billboard  Crusade. — In  connection  with  the  move- 
ment, the  ''New  York  Evening  Post"  has  obtained  an  interesting 
interview  with  one  of  the  firm  of  architects  responsible  for  the  New 
York  Public  Library.  He  makes  the  interesting  point  that  the  present 
absolute  license  given  the  displayers  of  such  advertising  is,  for  one 
thing,  discouraging  to  architects.  What  encouragement  is  there,  he 
asks,  to  an  architect  to  try  for  dignity  and  strength  in  the  city's 
buildings  when  his  work  is  to  be  overshadowed  as  soon  as  it  is  fin- 
ished? 

News,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 

Outdoor  Advertising. — There  are  few  countries  where  natural 
scenery  is  defaced  by  offensive  advertising  schemes  as  in  America. 

All  these  regulations  are  in  the  interest  of  the  public  at  large, 
and  the  next  result  is  to  reduce  the  offensiveness  of  outdoor  adver- 
tising to  a  minimum.  If  it  cannot  be  done  away  with  altogether,  it 
should  at  least  be  regulated  and  made  profitable  to  the  public  that 
suffers. 

Enquirer,  Oakland,  Cal. 

Billboards  Must  Go. — When  the  advertiser  appreciates  that 
the  public  is  prejudiced  against  this  form  of  publicity,  he  will  soon 
find  that  it  is  a  poor  kind  of  advertising  in  which  to  invest  his  money. 
In  other  words,  public  sentiment,  properly  organized,  is  a  most 
effective  method  of  eliminating  this  sort  of  nuisance. 

Union,  Springfield,  Mass. 

The  Nuisance  of  the  Billboard. — Whether  these  huge  signs 
adorn  the  fronts  of  business  structures,  rise  from  the  roofs  of  build- 
ings, extend  along  the  sides  of  streets,  or  are  hauled  about  the  city 
or  massed  at  entrances  to  public  parks,  they  are  alike  objectionable. 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


35 


Beauty,  taste,  decency,  personal  liberty,  safety, — all  these  things 
.and  more  are  violated  by  this  mistaken  means  of  publicity.  Not  only 
does  this  practice  disregard  the  considerations  which  make  for  a 
city  beautiful,  but,  so  long  as  it  is  tolerated,  it  makes  other  efforts 
toward  the  same  end  futile.  Though  a  facade  be  ever  so  artistically 
wrought,  or  a  square  laid  out  in  the  most  attractive  manner,  the 
effect  is  ruined  by  the  introduction  of  advertising  "screechers." 

The  protest  against  the  billboard  nuisance  is,  in  no  sense,  a  cru- 
sade against  the  advertising  business.  Happily,  an  increasingly  large 
number  of  advertisers  have  abandoned  this  means  of  advertising 
because  they  deem  it  unprofitable,  while  others  have  refrained  from 
the  same  custom  because  their  sense  of  public  spirit  and  decency 
condemns  it.  Most  of  us  like  to  know  about  the  latest  breakfast  food, 
or  the  newest  brand  of  soup,  but  it  is  conceivable  that  a  man's  appe- 
tite for  either  may  fail  him  if  he  is  forced  to  read  about  it  twice, 
thrice,  or,  perhaps,  a  hundred  times  a  day,  when  he  prefers  to  direct 
his  mind  upon  some  other  subject. 
Herald,  Spartanburg,  S.  C. 

Billboards. — There  is  a  field  for  the  billboard  as  a  means  of 
publicity,  but  it  should  be  kept  within  proper  bounds,  and  certainly 
the  pictures  which  are  placed  upon  them  should  be  such  as  not  to 
exert  an  unwholesome  influence  upon  the  schoolboys  and  school- 
girls. These  flashy  vehicles  of  publicity  are  placed  where  he  who 
runs  may  read,  and  may  see  the  crude  and  often  hideous  representa- 
tions of  criminal  acts,  such  as  train  robberies,  murders,  and  other 
incidents  which  are  put  on  in  the  theater.  It  is  bad  enough  for  such 
plays  to  be  enacted,  but  boys  and  girls  may  be  kept  away  from  the 
theater,  whereas  they  cannot  be  prevented  from  seeing  the  billboards. 

Post  Express,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

The  Offensive  Billboard.^ — Now  that  Rochesterians  are  be- 
coming municipally  self-conscious,  hope  begins  to  dawn  that  the 
sense  of  vision  and  notions  of  morality  will  no  longer  be  offended  by 
the  flamboyant  advertisement  and  the  hysterical  theater  poster. 
Why  should  the  natural  sky  be  made  hideous  by  nerve-racking 
luminous  signs?  Why  should  the  fair  face  of  the  landscape  be  de- 
faced by  the  monstrous  conceptions  of  the  industrial  artist?  Only 
once  in  a  decade  is  a  beautiful  advertisement  to  be  seen  on  the  bill- 
boards; but  every  day  the  eyes  are  affronted  by  the  chromatic  spasms 
of  publicity. 

News,  Newburyport,  Mass. 

The  Billboard  Eyesore. — We  have  many  times  adverted  to 
the  unsightly  billboard  and  stigmatized  it  as  a  public  nuisance;  but 
reform  in  the  direction  of  its  elimination  comes  slowly,  although  we 
think  it  will  come  in  time.  It  is  worthy  of  note,  however,  in  this  con- 
nection, that  a  brand-new  board  has  lately  been  erected  in  this  city. 
But  the  town  of  South  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  has  done  something  prac- 
tical in  the  way  of  abating  the  nuisance  along  its  highways.  The 
town  could  not  remove  the  boards  which  were  erected  on  private 
property  and  so,  as  they  were  a  source  of  private  revenue,  it  laid  a 
tax  on  them  as  on  other  personal  property.  The  advertisers  appealed 
to  the  state  equalization  board  to  secure  a  remission  of  the  tax; 
but  the  board  upheld  the  town  assessors  and  now  the  question 
will  go  to  the  courts.    During  the  process  of   taxation,  some  ad- 


36 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


vertisers  complained  that  they  were  taxed  more  than  others  and 
the  assessors  made  a  short  cut  in  that  matter  by  at  once  raising  the 
lower  taxes  to  an  equality  with  the  higher.  It  is  thought  and  hoped 
that  the  courts  will  uphold  the  assessors.  If  they  do,  the  town  will 
be  in  a  way  to  be  relieved  of  ugly  caricatures  along  its  highways 
which  are  highly  obnoxious.  The  contention  of  the  assessors  that  the 
billboard,  as  a  source  of  revenue — a  business — is  taxable,  would 
seem  to  be  a  sound  one. 

Star,  Montreal,  Canada. 

Against  Billboards. — We  should  not  allow  any  person  to  claim 
property  in  the  view.  If  a  citizen's  property  is  so  placed  that  he  can 
disfigure  the  view  and  destroy  the  legitimate  pleasure  that  all  the 
rest  of  us  might  take  in  it,  the  law  ought  to  limit  his  right  to  use  his 
property  to  at  least  the  extent  of  saving  us  from  an  affliction  where 
we  sought  a  delight.  We  will  not  let  a  man  use  his  property  to  create 
a  nuisance  to  the  sense  of  smell;  and  why  should  we  permit  him  to 
create  a  nuisance  to  the  sense  of  sight?  The  time  is  coming  when  the 
community  as  a  whole  will  have  to  assert  its  rights  more  vigorously 
over  the  individual  who  cares  nothing  for  taste  or  decency. 

OUTDOOR  ADVERTISING  ABROAD 

European  cities  have  handled  the  billboard  problem  with 
consummate  ability  and  skill.  President  McFarland  of  the 
American  Civic  Association  made  direct  inquiry  of  a  number  of 
American  consuls  concerning  the  control  and  management  of 
billboards,  and  the  answers,  received  through  the  State  Depart- 
ment, have  been  incorporated  in  the  consular  reports  and  given 
a  wide  pubhcity  throughout  the  United  States.  Some  South 
American  cities  have  been  equally  progressive,  and  the  result 
of  the  experiences  there  has  been  similarly  ascertained  and 
sent  broadcast.  We  present  here  some  of  the  more  striking 
features  of  these  reports  as  showing  just  how  carefully  and 
successfully  the  work  has  been  done. 

GERMANY 

BILLBOARDS  FORBIDDEN  IN  BERLIN 

Outdoor  advertising  displays  are  closely  restricted  in  this 
city.  Billboards,  as  they  are  known  in  the  United  States,  are 
absolutely  prohibited  in  Berhn,  but  in  place  of  such  oftentimes 
unsightly  objects,  public  advertising  is  confined  to  a  system 
of  neat  pillars  or  columns  on  the  edge  of  the  sidewalk  at  the 
principal  street  corners  or  intersection.  These  round,  hollow 
columns  (called  "Litfass  Saulen"  after  the  originator)  are 
built  substantially  of  iron  and  wood,  about  12  feet  high  and 
3  feet  in  diameter,  the  exterior  having  an  advertising  surface 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


37 


of  from  II  to  12  square  meters.  The  pillars  are  used  principally 
for  the  advertisements  of  theaters  and  other  places  of  amuse- 
ment, for  the  announcements  of  newspapers  and  periodicals, 
and  official  notices.  They  are  a  conspicuous  feature  of  Berlin 
street  life,  and  are  consulted  regularly  by  theater-goers,  etc. 
Considerable  artistic  cleverness  is  displayed  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  differently  colored  posters,  which  are  mostly  in 
the  form  of  reading  matter,  and  not  pictures. 

BERLIN  DERIVES   LARGE  INCOME 

In  April,  1901,  the  city  of  Berhn  advertised  for  bids  for 
the  privilege  of  erecting  and  using  these  advertising  columns 
within  the  limits  of  the  city  for  the  term  of  ten  years,  and  the 
successful  bidders  are  paying  an  annual  rental  to  the  city  of 
400,000  marks  ($95,200),  payable  quarterly.  According 
to  the  terms  of  the  lease,  the  city  covenanted  not  to  grant  a 
similar  license  to  any  one  else.  Newspaper  kiosks,  however, 
are  permitted  to  have  advertisements  on  their  walls,  consisting 
of  wood,  tin,  iron,  glass,  etc.  At  that  date  there  were  700 
columns  already  erected,  and  the  number  was  at  once  to  be 
materially  increased.  The  contractors  were  to  erect  them  at 
their  own  cost,  but  both  as  to  the  design  and  location  the 
approval  of  the  police  authorities  was  to  be  obtained,  and  they 
at  once  became  the  property  of  the  city,  all  repairs  and  proper 
maintenance  being  performed  by  the  contractors. 

RIGHTS  RESERVED   BY  THE  MUNICIPALITY 

The  city  has  the  right  to  use  the  interior  of  the  columns 
for  various  municipal  purposes,  such  as  storing  utensils  for 
street  cleaning  and  sand  for  use  in  the  streets,  for  switch 
apparatus,  for  public  electric  lights  and  meters  for  electric 
street  railways,  etc.  These  columns,  therefore,  are  provided 
with  doors  and  locks,  and  the  contractors  have  to  keep  the 
interiors  properly  ventilated  and  free  of  moisture.  Each  column 
must  also  have  distinctly  marked  on  the  upper  portion  of  it 
the  number  of  the  city  district  and  of  the  poHce  station,  the 
nearest  post  and  telegraph  office,  the  nearest  fire-alarm  sta- 
tion, the  nearest  sanitary  station,  the  nearest  accident  station, 
and  the  nearest  relief  station.  Delay  in  any  payment  or  viola- 
tion or  neglect  of  any  condition  on  the  part  of  the  contractors 
renders  them  Hable  to  a  fine  up  to  1,000  marks  ($238),  and  may 
even  cancel  the  lease.   A  bond  for  150,000  marks  ($11,900) 


38 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


was  given  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  terms  of  the  contract.  The 
contractors  have  the  exclusive  right  to  use  these  billboards 
for  advertising  purposes,  subject,  however,  to  certain  conditions. 

CHARGES  AND    METHODS   OF  POSTING 

The  consul-general  explains  the  rates  for  advertising, 
which  are  regulated  by  the  Berlin  authorities.  The  charges 
are  according  to  space  occupied,  the  maximum  varying  from 
9  cents  to  59  cents  per  day,  the  latter  being  for  a  space  of  19  x  29 
inches.  For  placards  larger  than  that  the  charges  are  in  pro- 
portion. 

All  placards  must  be  approved  by  the  police  authorities 
before  being  posted.  The  contractors  must  keep  a  record  of 
applicants  for  advertising  space,  and,  unless  in  cases  of  great 
urgency,  the  applicants  must  be  served  in  their  correct  order. 

The  city  authorities  have  the  right  to  demand  at  any  time 
the  free  posting  of  such  official  notices  as  may  be  necessary, 
and  for  this  purpose  a  special  shade  of  red  paper  is  used,  and 
no  private  advertisements  may,  therefore,  use  that  shade. 

The  posting  of  bills  on  the  pillars  must  always  be  done  at 
such  time  as  to  cause  the  least  possible  interference  with  the 
street  traffic,  and  is  therefore  usually  done  at  night. 

No  promiscuous  fihing  up  of  scaffolding  on  new  buildings 
with  advertisements  is  permitted  here.  The  owner  of  a  build- 
ing may  paint  any  exposed  portion  of  it  with  signs  or  hang 
out  signs,  but  permission  must  first  be  obtained  from  the  police. 
At  the  present  time,  as  in  America,  multicolored,  changing, 
electrically  illuminated  signs  on  the  tops  and  on  the  entrances 
of  buildings  and  stores  are  much  in  vogue,  so  that  the  business 
part  of  the  city  at  night-time  is  here  and  there  dazzlingly 
briUiant. 

Show-cases  placed  outside  a  store  have  to  pay  a  small  tax. 

"Sandwich  men"  are  occasionally  seen  in  the  streets  of 
Berlin  carrying  signs,  but  this  is  regarded  in  Germany  as  a 
degrading  form  of  labor  and,  consequently,  this  kind  of  adver- 
tising is  not  much  practiced. 

— From  report  of  Consul-General  A.  W.  Thackara. 

MUNICIPAL  RESTRICTIONS  AND  GRANTS  IN  HAMBURG 

One  of  the  oldest  enterprises  in  Hamburg  exclusively 
devoted  to  outdoor  advertising,  in  January,  187 1,  entered  into 
a  thirty  years'  contract  with  the  Hamburg  state  government 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


39 


for  the  sole  right  of  erecting  pillars  for  advertising  purposes. 
In  1 901,  upon  the  expiration  of  the  original  contract,  which 
called  for  fifty-two  such  pillars,  afterward  increased  to  one 
hundred,  it  was  renewed  for  another  thirty  years,  with  the 
provision  that  after  191 1  the  right  be  reserved  to  the  Hamburg 
government  of  demanding,  upon  one  year's  notice,  the  removal 
of  the  existing  pillars. 

CONTRACT   WITH   THE  CITY 

The  chief  features  of  the  contract  are: 

The  company  is  obliged,  at  its  own  expense,  to  erect  and 
maintain  in  good  order  and  condition  the  number  of  advertising 
pillars  agreed  upon  on  such  places  on  public  streets  or  squares 
as  shall  be  assigned  to  the  company,  free  of  rent,  by  the 
"  Baudeputation "  [building  department,  one  of  the  Hamburg 
government  departments].  The  pillars  are  required  to  be 
built  of  glazed  tiles  or  bricks,  uniform  and  neat  in  appear- 
ance, and  to  be  constructed  in  such  a  manner  that  they  may 
also  be  used  as  public  drinking  fountains.  Whenever  the 
department  of  finance,  in  the  interest  of  the  pubHc,  demands 
the  removal  of  any  of  these  pillars,  the  company  is  obliged 
to  effect  the  same  without  delay;  the  costs  connected  there- 
with, however,  are  borne  by  the  state  of  Hamburg,  unless  the 
removal  is  done  at  the  company's  own  desire,  and  not  in  com- 
pliance with  government  orders.  All  the  work  connected  with 
the  installation  and  keeping  in  repair  of  the  said  drinking 
fountains,  for  which  water  is  supplied  by  the  city  free  of 
cost,  is  performed  at  the  expense  of  the  government. 

The  pillars  are  further  arranged  in  such  a  manner  that  the 
interior  may  be  used  by  the  city  as  a  receptacle  for  gravel,  sand, 
or  other  strewing  material  for  streets,  and  on  the  part  of  the 
company  for  the  keeping  of  tools,  utensils,  waste  paper,  etc. 

The  company  is  obliged  to  comply  strictly  with  any  existing 
laws  or  police  regulations  pertaining  to  posters  and  other 
advertising  matter,  and  is  in  its  entire  management  and  ser- 
vice subject  to  a  control  on  the  part  of  the  police  department, 
having  unconditionally  to  follow  any  orders  the  latter  may  deem 
proper  to  issue. 

Included  in  the  rates  is  the  remuneration  for  the  attaching 
of  advertising  matter.  The  company  is  further  required  to 
affix,  free  of  charge,  on  all  pillars  owned  by  it  in  the  city  any 
public  (federal,  state,  or  city)  announcements  and  notices 
submitted  to  it  for  publication  by  any  government  depart- 


40 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


ment  or  authority,  and  for  such  announcements  must  be 
selected  a  conspicuous  place,  so  that  the  same  can  be  easily 
read  by  the  pubHc. 

As  a  remuneration  for  the  license  and  use  of  pubHc  places 
for  advertising  pillars  the  "  Anschlagsaulen-Gesellschaft" 
is  required  to  turn  over  to  the  treasury  of  Hamburg  20  per  cent 
of  its  annual  gross  profits.  According  to  a  recent  amendment 
to  the  original  contract,  this  amount  will  later  be  increased  to 
25  per  cent.  Business  losses,  however,  are  borne  by  the  company 
alone. 

CLOCK   ADVERTISING— GENERAL  CITY  REGULATIONS 

Besides  the  contract  with  the  "  Anschlagsaulen-Gesell- 
schaft,"  there  exists  another  one  between  the  government 
of  Hamburg  and  the  "  Annoncenuhr-Aktiengesellschaft,"  by 
which  this  company  was  granted  a  license  for  the  erection  and 
operation  of  clocks  on  public  squares  for  advertising  purposes. 
However,  there  are  only  nine  such  clocks  in  operation  in  the 
city,  for  which  privilege  the  company  pays  to  the  Hamburg 
treasury  an  annual  remuneration  of  10  marks  ($2.38)  per 
clock.  Daily  advertisements  and  such  as  relate  to  theater 
or  concert  performances  and  other  amusements  are  not  per- 
mitted on  these  clocks,  and  this  scheme  of  advertising  is  be- 
coming obsolete.  Besides,  the  "  Anschlagsaulen  Gesellschaf t " 
is  now  holding  the  monopoly  for  the  erection  of  advertising 
structures,  so  that  the  number  of  advertising  clocks  operated 
by  the  "Annoncenuhr-Aktiengesellschaft"  can  not  be  increased. 

With  regard  to  outdoor  advertising  other  than  that  on  such 
structures  as  the  advertising  pillars  and  clocks  described  in  the 
foregoing,  such  advertising  is  regulated  in  Hamburg  to  a 
limited  extent  only,  particularly  by  the  "  Strassenordnung " 
(street  regulations)  of  July  7,  1902,  paragraph  59  of  which 
reads  in  translation,  as  follows: 

The  hanging  out,  exhibiting,  or  affixing  in  any  other  manner 
of  articles  for  sale  and  other  purposes  on  buildings,  doors, 
windows,  fences,  etc.,  so  that  the  same  extend  into  the  open 
air  space,  are  subject  to  a  permission  on  the  part  of  the  police 
department. 

PAINTINGS  AND    SIGNS  ON  BUILDINGS 

Advertising  in  the  shape  of  paintings  on  walls  or  other 
parts  of  buildings  is  not  subject  to  a  permission  on  the  part 
of  the  police  department,  and  can  not,  therefore,  be  objected  to. 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


41 


However,  the  affixing  of  bills,  posters,  placards,  private  notices, 
etc.,  on  public  buildings  and  other  property  is  prohibited 
(this  prohibition  being  based  chiefly  on  the  contract  between 
the  city  and  the  "  Anschlagsaulen-Gesellschaft"),  whereas 
for  the  affixing  of  any  advertising  matter,  private  notices,  etc., 
on  private  buildings,  fences  and  plots  the  permission  of  the 
owner  is  required.  The  owners  of  private  property  have  the 
right  to  permit  the  use  thereof  for  advertising  purposes,  of  which 
privilege  ample  use  is  made,  numerous  walls  of  houses,  roofs, 
fences,  etc.,  being  let  for  advertising  purposes  of  all  kinds. 

HARMONY  IN  ARCHITECTURE — NO  ADVERTISING  TAXES 

For  a  number  of  streets  in  the  city  proper  it  was  required 
in  former  years  (by  special  act)  that,  in  connection  with  the 
sale  of  public  property,  buildings  to  be  erected  thereon  be  built 
in  the  same  or  a  similar  architectural  style  as  that  of  adjacent 
houses.  By  means  of  this  requirement,  the  Hamburg  govern- 
ment is  in  a  position,  if  considered  proper  or  necessary,  to 
prevent  the  attaching  of  any  signboards,  etc.,  which  are  likely 
to  disfigure  the  uniformity  of  the  buildings  in  those  streets. 
Other  means,  however,  than  these  street  regulations  the  Ham- 
burg government  has  none  at  its  command  to  restrict  outdoor 
advertising.  The  restriction  of  conspicuous,  obtrusive  adver- 
tisements in  the  vicinity  of  public  squares,  parks,  monuments, 
buildings,  etc.,  has  repeatedly  been  considered  by  the  legis- 
lature and  the  competent  local  authorities,  but  so  far  no  definite 
results  have  been  arrived  at. 

— From  report  of  Consul-General  O.  W.  Hellmrich. 


BILLPOSTING  IN  FRANCE 

GOVERNMENT  REGULATION   OF    PUBLIC   ADVERTISING  DISPLAYS 

The  first  enactment  relating  to  the  subject  is  a  law,  dated 
July  28,  1 791,  is  still  in  force,  and  prescribes  that  only  a 
government  poster  or  announcement  may  be  printed  on 
white  paper.  All  others  must  be  on  colored  papers — red,  blue, 
yellow,  etc.  Every  poster  or  other  announcement  painted, 
printed,  or  otherwise  deHneated  upon  a  wall,  building,  or  upon 
canvas  or  other  sustaining  device,  is  subject  to  a  yearly  tax 
as  follows:  In  communes  of  less  than  2,500  inhabitants, 
12  cents  per  square  meter;  in  communes  from  2,500  to  40,000 
inhabitants,  13  cents;  in  cities  over  40,000,  20  cents,  and  in 


42 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


Paris,  30  cents  per  square  meter.  This  is  for  business  or  other 
announcements  of  more  or  less  permanent  character. 

SECURING   OFFICIAL  PERMISSION 

Temporary  "afiiches"  or  posters  are  subject  to  a  stamp 
tax  according  to  size  from  2  to  6  cents  per  sheet.  This  is 
attached  either  in  the  form  of  stamped  paper  on  which  the 
revenue  stamp  is  appHed  to  the  sheet  before  being  printed  in 
such  way  that  the  stamp  is  canceled  by  the  text  being  printed 
over  it,  or  it  may  be  attached  adhesively  afterward  and  can- 
celed by  a  rubber  stamp  provided  for  that  purpose. 

But,  before  being  pubHcly  displayed,  each  poster  is  required 
to  be  presented  in  duplicate  at  the  office  designated  for  that 
purpose,  dated  and  signed  either  by  the  person  in  whose 
interest  it  is  prepared  or  by  the  billposter  who  is  charged  with 
posting  the  same.  Such  antecedent  declaration  must  state 
fully:  (i)  The  text  of  the  poster;  (2)  the  name,  surname,  pro- 
fession, and  domicile  of  the  person  in  whose  interest  it  is  to  be 
displayed;  (3)  the  dimensions  of  the  poster  in  square  meters 
and  fractions  thereof;  (4)  name,  surname,  and  domicile  of  the 
billposter  who  is  to  post  it  in  public;  (5)  the  number  of  copies 
to  be  posted;  (6)  precise  information  as  to  the  streets  or  squares, 
houses,  or  other  constructions  on  which  the  poster  is  to  be 
displayed,  and  (7)  the  length  of  time  during  which  it  is  to  be 
kept  in  view.  One  copy  is  filed  at  the  office  of  registration,  the 
other,  signed  and  stamped  by  the  official  in  charge,  is  re- 
turned to  the  applicant. 

CONTROL   OF   ADVERTISING  EXHIBITS 

It  will  be  obvious  that  a  system  so  rigid  and  elaborate  as 
this  gives  the  authorities  of  every  village  and  commune  in 
France  absolute  control  of  all  posters  and  announcements 
displayed  in  public  places,  and  practically  suppresses  the 
abuses  which  prevail  in  that  respect  in  certain  other  countries. 

No  one  is  permitted  in  France  to  deface  streets  and  pubhc 
places  with  crude,  ostentatious  announcements  of  his  business 
or  other  subject.  Billboards  are  infrequent  in  Paris,  and  are 
generally  built  permanently  into  a  wall,  where  they  are  taxed 
according  to  their  superficial  area. 

When  a  building  is  in  construction,  and  board  screens  are 
erected  to  shield  the  public  from  dust  and  other  annoyance, 
such  temporary  screens  will  soon  be  covered  with  posters  of 
amusements  and  other  business,  but  each  poster  so  displayed 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


43 


has  been  previously  submitted  to  the  authorities,  a  Hcense 
obtained,  and  each  sheet  bears  the  canceled  revenue  stamp, 
according  to  its  size. 

FOUR   KINDS   OF    ADVERTISING  STRUCTURES 

There  are  in  Paris  four  classes  of  kiosks,  or  street  structures, 
which  are  devoted  to  advertising  or  billposting,  as  follows: 

1.  Round  towers,  known  as  the  Colonnes  Moris,  made  of 
wood  and  used  mainly  for  posters  of  theaters  and  other  amuse- 
ments. This  is  the  oldest  form  of  kiosk  in  Paris,  and  com- 
paratively few  of  them  are  now  in  use  except  on  the  leading 
boulevards  and  avenues. 

2.  The  "Poste  de  vigie,"  or  policeman's  kiosk.  This  is 
a  hexagonal  kiosk  used  as  a  shelter  by  the  policeman  whose 
post  is  adjacent  to  the  more  important  cab  stands.  Its  panels 
of  wood  or  glass  are  used  for  the  more  permanent  class  of  busi- 
ness advertising,  which  is  printed  on  the  glass  or  posters 
covered  by  glass  frames. 

3.  The  news-stand  kiosk  serves  as  a  shelter  and  depot  for 
a  dealer  in  newspapers  and  magazines,  whose  stock  is  usually 
displayed  on  shelves  or  tables  under  a  tent  or  awning  set  up 
outside  the  kiosk.  Paris  is  the  paradise  of  newspaper  venders, 
and  kiosks  of  this  class  are  common  throughout  the  city. 
They  are  substantially  built,  and  their  panels  serve  for  the 
permanent  display  of  a  large  variety  of  advertisements. 

4.  Finally,  there  are  the  public  comfort  stations  for  men, 
which  are  built  of  iron  with  interior  slabs  of  slate.  They  dis- 
play poster  advertisements  of  patent  medicines  and  various 
other  subjects,  and,  although  not  ornamental,  are  considered 
useful,  through  primitive  concessions  to  pubHc  necessity. 

Electrical  signs  are  permitted  and  used  to  some  small  extent 
in  Paris,  but  not  so  generally  as  in  Berlin,  London,  and  some 
other  European  cities.  For  each  sign  of  this  class  of  pubHc 
advertisement  a  special  permit  must  be  obtained  from  the 
prefecture,  and  the  tax  thereon  is  regulated  by  the  size  and 
character  of  the  sign  to  be  displayed. 

OUTDOOR  ADVERTISING  IN  SOUTH  AMERICA 

IN  BUENOS  AIRES 

Outdoor  advertising  in  this  city  is  regulated  by  the  munici- 
pahty  as  to  morality,  etc.,  and  advertisements  can  not  be 
placed  anywhere  within  the  city  Hmits  without  the  consent 


44 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


and  authorization  of  the  city  authorities.  Billboard  adver- 
tising is  handled  exclusively  by  the  municipahty,  which  puts 
up  the  boards  and  rents  the  spaces.  A  tax  is  imposed  upon 
every  kind  and  variety  of  advertising,  whether  in  street  cars, 
railway  stations,  theaters,  bars,  restaurants,  walls  of  houses, 
carts,  or  any  building  which  is  open  to  the  public.  The  tax 
on  wall  advertisements,  theater  curtains,  etc.,  is  $5  Argentine 
paper  ($2.13  American  currency)  per  meter  (meter  39.37 
inches)  per  year.  Taxes  on  other  kinds  of  advertisements  vary 
from  $5  to  $15  per  meter,  according  to  class,  size,  etc.,  as  set 
forth  by  the  Ordenanza  General  de  Impuestos,  which  can  be 
obtained  from  the  municipahty. 

The  revenue  derived  by  Buenos  Aires  from  advertisements 
amounts  to  about  $250,000  Argentine  paper  ($106,250  American 
currency)  per  year.  Up  to  the  present  time  there  is  no  pro- 
vision for  city  announcements  in  connection  with  any  permitted 
advertising  structures.  Electrical  advertising,  embracing  large 
electrical  signs,  etc.,  is  as  yet  in  its  infancy  in  this  city,  and  no 
rules  for  regulating  same  have  been  adopted. 


IN  BRAZIL 

Every  sign  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  is  taxed.  A  cafe  having  a 
special  "sorvete,"  or  ice,  to  serve,  makes  a  placard  and 
hangs  it  to  a  doorpost,  or  to  one  of  the  palm  trees  in  tubs 
which  commonly  decorate  such  establishments.  The  notice 
thus  posted  must  have  a  revenue  stamp  attached.  Permanent 
signs  are  taxed  on  a  permanent  basis;  temporary  signs  on  a 
stamp  basis.  A  sign  "house  for  rent"  bears  a  revenue  stamp. 
Under  such  circumstances  the  tax  on  signboards  or  billboards 
is  the  expected  thing,  but  naturally  there  is  much  less  general 
use  of  such  forms  of  advertising.  As  in  the  cities  of  the  United 
States,  a  vacant  corner  on  a  frequented  street  is  very  Hkely  to 
have  some  sort  of  a  billboard  arrangement,  and  temporary 
inclosures  about  buildings  in  course  of  construction  are  gener- 
ally covered  with  more  or  less  prominent  signs,  but  these  signs, 
being  taxed,  are  regulated  both  in  size  and  in  other  respects. 
Since  it  costs  considerable  in  the  way  of  taxes,  as  well  as  in  the 
preparation  of  boards  to  erect  such  signs,  there  are  few  of  them 
placed  for  short  periods,  and  therefore  httle  of  bill  or  poster 
advertising. 

The  outdoor  signs,  as  a  rule,  are  painted  signs,  and,  in 
general,  it  may  be  said  that  they  represent  the  best  form  of 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


45 


poster  or  billboard  advertising.  Theoretically,  any  one  can  erect 
outdoor  signs,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  prefect  or  mayor 
of  the  municipahty  and  paying  the  tax,  but  practically  the 
erection  of  such  signs  is  almost  altogether  in  the  control  of  a 
company  which  has  taken  possession  of  the  most  available 
sites  for  such  work  and  manages  its  business  much  as  a  similar 
business  is  managed  in  most  cities  of  the  United  States. 

LICENSING  KIOSKS — GENERAL    CITY  REVENUE 

In  a  large  number  of  suitable  locations  in  parks,  pleasure 
resorts,  vacant  street  corners  and  the  like,  kiosks  have  been 
erected  for  the  sale  of  light  drinks  and  similar  goods,  and  these 
structures  are  taken  advantage  of  for  outdoor  advertising.  As 
a  general  thing,  the  kiosk  privilege  carries  with  it  the  advertising 
privilege.  There  are  also  on  the  streets  and  avenues  small, 
movable  kiosks,  often  of  so  hght  a  construction  that  the  vender 
carries  it  about  with  him,  goods  and  all.  These  also  are  Hcensed 
by  the  municipahty,  and  generally  carry  advertising  matter. 
From  these  several  hues,  the  city  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  or  rather 
the  Federal  District,  which  corresponds  to  the  District  of 
Columbia  in  the  United  States,  but  which  is  practically  the 
municipality  of  Rio  de  Janiero,  derives  an  income  of  something 
over  $40,000  a  year — from  the  advertisement  and  doorplate 
tax  $31,338,  and  from  kiosks  $9,660. 

The  effect  of  taxation  in  this  particular  line  is  unquestion- 
ably beneficial  from  the  standpoint  of  the  general  appearance 
of  the  city,  not  to  mention  revenue  possibihties.  There  have 
been  extensive  and  costly  modern  improvements  made  in  Rio 
de  Janeiro  in  the  past  four  years,  and  the  beauty  of  the  city 
is  the  subject  of  never-ending  favorable  comment  from  visitors. 
Much  of  this  is  due  to  the  actual  natural  beauty  of  the  city, 
its  mountainous  surroundings,  its  beautiful  bay,  and  its  posi- 
tion with  respect  to  the  sea.  The  nature  of  the  improved 
avenues,  parks,  and  driveways  also  contributes  to  this  effect, 
but  the  element  of  freedom  from  unsightly  structures,  unsightly 
signs,  and  ugly  commerciaHsm  is  so  strong  an  element  in  the 
present  artistic  appearance  and  attractiveness  of  the  city  that 
it  is  only  necessary  to  suggest  it  to  a  stranger  to  have  it  fully 
appreciated. 

— From  report  of  Consul-General  George  E.  Anderson. 


HOW  TO  COMBAT  BILLBOARD 


ABUSES 

To  meet  the  demand  for  concrete  suggestions  as  to  beginning  the 
work  against  the  obtrusive  ugHness  of  billboards,  the  following 
paragraphs  are  submitted: 

1.  Read  this  pamphlet  carefully  and  completely  before 
writing  the  American  Civic  Association  for  information. 

2.  Obtain  and  study  local  and  state  laws  and  regulations 
affecting  outdoor  advertising.  Usually,  a  public-spirited 
lawyer,  or  the  public  attorney,  may  be  applied  to. 

3.  Note  whether  the  existing  laws  or  regulations  are 
being  observed.  Bill-posters  are  prone  to  disregard  laws  if 
not  continually  watched.  Urge  the  proper  authorities  to 
see  that  all  existing  regulations  are  enforced. 

4.  Secure  publication,  in  local  papers,  of  billboard  infor- 
mation, such  as  that  in  this  pamphlet,  and  in  the  Clipping 
Sheets  issued  by  the  American  Civic  Association.  This  will 
call  attention  to  the  evil,  too  often  accepted  as  necessary, 
or  merely  overlooked. 

5.  If  there  are  obtrusive  billboards  near  churches,  schools, 
parks,  or  public  buildings,  direct  public  attention,  through 
the  local  press,  to  the  harm  and  incongruity  of  such  displays. 

6.  If  it  is  found  that  the  billboards  hide  filth,  call  the 
attention  of  the  sanitary  authorities  to  this,  and  have  action 
taken.  To  have  photographs  made  of  conditions  back  of 
billboards,  and  to  secure  their  publication  in  local  papers, 
is  a  most  effective  way  of  arousing  the  public.  Photographs 
of  billboards  near  fine  buildings  or  schools,  or  as  they  appear 
to  the  incoming  traveler,  are  effective  in  arousing  the 
people.  If  the  billboards  are  carelessly  kept,  and  if  loose 
paper  from  them  is  allowed  to  fly  about  the  streets,  insist 
on  improvement  for  sanitary  reasons. 

7.  If  there  is  a  pest  of  the  smaller  "sniping"  signs,  nailed 
or  pasted  on  poles,  trees,  fences  and  outbuildings,  ascertain 
whether  permission  for  the  placing  of  such  signs  has  been 
obtained.  If  not,  urge  property  owners  to  summarily  remove 
the  signs,  as  is  their  undoubted  legal  right.  It  is  usually 
safe  for  any  interested  person,  after  inquiry  as  to  permission, 
to  remove  the  signs.  Burn  or  bury  them;  don't  create  another 
nuisance  by  throwing  them  aside  somewhere. 


C46) 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


47 


8.  Endeavor  to  have  local  laws  and  regulations  established 
restraining  the  excesses  of  the  billboards  and  taxing  them. 
Such  regulations  should  be  based  upon  the  "police  power" 
of  the  community,  and  should  be  reasonable,  or  they  will 
not  stand  the  test  of  the  courts.  As  yet,  ordinances  to  pro- 
hibit billboards  are  not  enforceable  in  most  American  com- 
munities. If  you  have  enough  courage,  and,  especially,  if 
you  can  secure  evidence  that  the  signs  have  actually  damaged 
a  residence  neighborhood,  or  decreased  values,  get  your 
testimony  in  good  order  and  have  a  capable  lawyer  ask  the 
court  to  abate  the  signs  as  public  nuisances  under  the  com- 
mon law.  You  may  fail;  but,  if  your  case  is  well  prepared, 
there  is  always  a  chance  of  success,  and  of  thus  doing  great 
good,  not  only  to  your  community,  but,  also,  to  all  others. 

9.  Arouse  local  sentiment  and  civic  pride  in  your  com- 
munity. Insist  that  your  townsmen  are  entitled  to  as  much 
beauty  as  other  towns  have,  and  show  how  the  signs  create 
ugliness.  Urge  local  merchants  to  abandon  the  billboards 
in  order  to  help  increase  home  beauty.  Get  many  friends 
to  ask  this  of  your  business  men  as  a  favor  and  as  an  evidence 
of  their  public  spirit.  See  to  it  that  they  do  not  suffer  in 
business  by  such  action. 

10.  Write  the  general  advertisers  who  offend,  respect- 
fully protesting  against  the  signs.  These  people  all  want 
favorable  publicity;  it  cost  the  meat-packers  millions  of 
dollars  to  remove  the  effects  of  unfavorable  publicity.  That 
you  may  note  that  certain  notable  offenders  do  not  desire 
to  have  the  illwill  of  communities,  read  these  extracts  from 
letters  received  by  the  president  of  the  American  Civic  Asso- 
ciation : 

"We  wish  to  say  to  you  that,  in  all  candor  and  seriousness,  we 
are  heartily  in  accord  with  the  purposes  of  the  American  Civic  Asso- 
ciation, but  do  not  quite  agree  with  the  methods  that  they  have 
adopted  to  obtain  a  'better  and  more  beautiful'  America,  and  beg 
to  assure  you  that  at  any  time  we  shall  be  pleased  to  hear  from  you 
regarding  any  sign  that  may  appear  to  you  to  be  objectionable. 

"With  assurance  of  my  deepest  respect,  I  am 
Very  truly  yours, 

THE  COCA-COLA  COMPANY, 

By  C.  Dobb,  Sales  Manager." 

"As  to  the  question  of  civic  beauty,  we  must  agree  that  our 
scenery,  either  rural  or  urban,  is  not  improved  by  the  presence  of 
the  many-colored  billboards,  but  so  long  as  they  are  permitted  and 


48 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


are  available  at  a  reasonable  price,  the  progressive  advertiser  of  today 
is  going  to  use  them. 

"In  working  out  our  outdoor  advertising,  we  aim  to  get  designs 
that  will  be  pleasing  to  the  public  eye  as  well  as  instructive  on  our 
line  of  goods.        Yours  truly, 

THE  QUAKER  OATS  COMPANY, 

Charles  W.  Hess,  Advertising  Manager." 

11.  Keep  at  it;  don't  be  discouraged;  keep  talking,  and 
trying,  and  fighting,  and  the  signs  will  eventually  fall.  Be 
good-humored  about  it;  don't  mind  the  hard  names  the 
bill-posters  will  call  you,  nor  their  gross  materialism  or 
misrepresentation.  By  their  own  excesses  and  actions  they 
are  helping  to  crystallize  public  sentiment  against  their 
ugly  productions. 

12.  For  further  information,  or  upon  definite  points  not 
covered  in  this  pamphlet,  write  to  the  secretary  or  the  presi- 
dent of  the  American  Civic  Association,  or  to  the  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  Department  of  Nuisances.  To  obtain  additional 
members  of  the  American  Civic  Association  among  earnest 
people  is  an  especially  good  way  to  spread  the  gospel  of  beauty 
in  ail  ways.  The  billboard  campaign  is  progressing,  and  its 
progress  is  made  more  rapid  as  more  communities  begin  to 
care  how  things  look.  Parks  and  playgrounds,  school  gar- 
dens and  recreation  centers  are  directly  influential  in  caus- 
ing people  to  dislike  billboards. 


American  Civic  Association,  Harrisburg,  Pa. 


SUPPLEMENT   TO   BULLETIN  SERIES  II,  NO.  2,  ON 

The  Billboard  Nuisance 


THE  SEABURY  DECISION  ON  BILLBOARDS 
ON  THE  PUBLIC  HIGHWAY 

So  important  is  the  decision  handed  down  December  9, 
1908,  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  City  of  New  York  in  a  bill- 
board case  that  the  full  text  of  it  is  herewith  presented. 

There  should  be  especial  notice  taken  of  the  clear  state- 
ment as  to  complete  public  ownership  of  the  entire  surface  of 
the  highway.  If  this  decision  is  confirmed  in  other  states, 
as  it  would  probably  be  upon  occasion,  all  signs  on  the  street 
surface,  outside  the  private  property  line  (the  "house"  line) 
would  have  to  come  down.  Moreover,  any  use  of  the  streets 
for  private  interest  would  seem  to  be  inhibited.  Those  who  have 
at  interest  the  proper  public  use  of  the  highways  are  urged 
to  act  upon  this  precedent  whenever  possible,  and  to  advise 
the  ofSce  of  the  American  Civic  Association  of  any  result. 

SUPREME  COURT— SPECIAL  TERM,  PART  I  (Continued). 
By  Mr.  Justice  Seabury 

C.  J.  Sullivan  Adv.  Co.  v.  City  of  N.  Y.— This  is  an  appli- 
cation for  an  injunction  pendente  lite..  The  plaintiff  is  a  do- 
mestic corporation  engaged  in  carrying  on  the  business  of 
advertising  in  the  City  of  New  York.  The  City  of  New  York, 
the  President  of  the  Borough  of  Manhattan  the  Commissioner 
of  Public  Works  and  the  Superintendent  of  Incumbrances 
in  the  Borough  of  Manhattan  are  named  in  the  complaint 
as  defendants.  Upon  this  application  the  plaintiff  seeks  to 
restrain  the  defendants  from  in  any  way  tearing  down  or  inter- 
fering with  certain  billboards  or  signs  and  the  advertisements 
thereon  displayed  on  the  shed  erected  over  the  sidewalks  at 


2 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


the  corner  of  Fourth  avenue  and  Nineteenth  street,  in  the 
Borough  of  Manhattan.  The  building  formerly  known  as  the 
Parker  Building  was  situated  at  this  place.  The  building  was 
destroyed  by  fire,  but  the  brick  walls,  ten  stories  in  height, 
still  remain  standing.  These  walls  have  a  frontage  on  Fourth 
avenue  of  about  loo  feet  and  a  frontage  of  about  the  same 
distance  on  Nineteenth  street.  A  temporary  shed  has  been  con- 
structed to  protect  pedestrians  passing  along  the  sidewalk 
from  falling  brick  or  debris.  This  shed  covers  the  sidewalk, 
and  is  about  twelve  feet  above  the  sidewalk,  and  is  supported 
by  upright  wooden  posts  placed  at  the  curb  of  the  sidewalk. 
This  shed  has  been  constructed  under  a  permit  issued  by  the 
Bureau  of  Highways  of  the  City  of  New  York.  The  permit 
authorized  the  building  of  the  structure  for  the  purpose  of  a 
shed  or  roof,  and  for  no  other  purpose.  On  the  street  side  of 
the  shed  and  on  a  line  above  and  even  with  the  curb  large  bill- 
boards or  signs  have  been  erected.  These  billboards  or  signs 
consist  of  a  wooden  frame  covered  with  tin,  and  are  loo  feet 
in  length  and  from  lo  to  i8  feet  in  width.  One  of  these  bill- 
boards fronts  on  Fourth  avenue  and  another  of  like  character 
fronts  on  Nineteenth  street.  Another  billboard  has  been  erected 
at  or  near  the  crosswalk  on  Nineteenth  street,  the  lower  part 
of  which  sign  comes  down  to  a  point  within  two  feet  of  the 
curb.  These  billboards  or  signs  are  no  part  of  the  shed  or 
roof,  but  are  separate  structures  attached  to  the  shed,  and 
serve  no  other  purpose  than  that  of  a  surface  upon  which 
advertisements  are  displayed.  Upon  the  billboards  are  dis- 
played placards  and  illustrations  in  colors  advertising  theatrical 
performances  and  articles  that  are  for  sale.  Photographs  of 
the  billboards  or  signs  are  attached  to  the  papers  submitted 
upon  this  motion.  The  permit  granted  to  the  plaintiff  by  the 
municipal  authorities  merely  authorized  the  erection  of  a  shed 
or  roof,  and  did  not  either  expressly  or  by  implication  authorize 
the  erection  of  the  billboards  or  signs.  Section  144  of  the  Code 
of  Ordinances  of  the  City  of  New  York  provides,  among 
other  things,  that  "all  fences,  signs,  billboards  and  sky  signs 
shall  be  erected  entirely  within  the  building  line,  and 
be  properly  secured,  supported  and  braced,  and  shall  be  so 
constructed  as  not  to  be  or  become  dangerous. "  The  plaintiff 
contends  that  as  the  shed  or  roof  is  lawful  "  the  mere  pasting 
of  signs  upon  a  lawful  structure  does  not  render  any  part  of 
the  structure  unlawful. "  This  argument  begs  the  question  in 
dispute.  The  plaintiff  had  no  original  right  to  erect  even  the 
shed  or  roof,  and  its  right  to  do  so  was  derived  from  the  special 


THE  BILLBOARD  NUISANCE 


3 


permission  which  the  municipal  authorities  granted  to  it  to  do 
this  particular  thing.  Municipal  authority  to  build  a  shed 
or  roof  for  the  protection  of  pedestrians  passing  along  the  side- 
walk gave  the  plaintiff  no  right  to  use  public  property  for  the 
purpose  of  its  advertising  business.  It  was  granted  a  limited 
and  special  authority  to  do  a  particular  thing  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  a  definite  purpose.  Such  limited  and  special 
authority  does  not  sanction  the  use  of  the  street  for  other  and 
different  purposes.  The  plaintiff,  therefore,  was  entirely  with- 
out authority  to  erect  the  bill  boards  or  signs.  Such  signs 
being  outside  of  the  building  line  it  is  doubtful  if  the 
municipal  authorities  could  lawfully  have  authorized 
their  erection.  The  streets  or  highways  are  public 
property.  The  streets,  including  the  sidewalks,  belong, 
"from  side  to  side  and  end  to  end,"  to  the  public.  Abut- 
ting owners  have  no  right  to  appropriate  this  public 
property  to  private  uses.  The  erection  of  billboards  or 
signs  upon  or  over  public  property  is  an  appropriation 
of  public  property  to  private  uses,  and  is  no  more  sanctioned 
by  the  law  than  is  the  public  appropriation  of  private  property. 
That  the  municipal  authorities  cannot  lawfully  permit  the  use 
of  "park"  property  for  advertising  purposes  (Tompkins  v. 
Pallas,  47  Misc.,  309)  nor  grant  a  right  to  exhibit  advertise- 
ments upon  a  fence  inclosing  a  pubHc  building  in  the  City  of 
New  York  has  already  been  determined  (McNamara  v.  Will- 
cox,  73  App.  Div.,  451).  In  the  present  case  the  municipal 
authorities  have  very  properLy  refused  to  grant  the  plaintiff 
permission  to  display  its  advertisements  upon  pubhc  property. 
The  plaintiff  bases  its  pretended  rights  upon  a  contract  made 
with  the  abutting  owner.  A  contract  with  an  abutting  land- 
owner could  confer  no  such  rights  upon  the  plaintiff,  as  it  claims 
over  public  property.  The  act  of  the  plaintiff  in  erecting 
and  maintaining  billboards  or  signs  upon  and  over 
public  property  is  without  any  color  of  right  or  legal 
authority.  With  quite  as  much  authority  might  it  claim 
the  right  to  display  its  advertisements  from  the  walls 
of  the  City  Hall  or  any  other  portion  of  the  public  prop- 
erty. There  are  a  class  of  cases  which  are  involved  in  difl&- 
culty  where  the  public  authority,  claiming  to  act  under  its 
police  power,  attempts  to  restrict  or  regulate  the  use  of  private 
property.  The  case  at  bar  in  no  way  resembles  such  cases.  This 
is  not  a  case  where  private  right  is  invaded  by  the  police  power. 
This  is  a  case  where  pubhc  right  has  been  invaded  by  a  private 
trespass  continuous  in  its  nature.  It  has  no  resemblance  to 


4 


AMERICAN  CIVIC  ASSOCIATION 


those  cases  where  the  sovereign  authority  seeks  to  Hmit  or 
restrain  the  exercise  of  individual  or  private  right.  It  is  a  case 
where  the  public  property  has  been  wrongfully  invaded 
by  private  or  individual  interests  in  such  a  way  as  to 
impair  the  common  rights  of  all  in  it.  The  ordinance 
referred  to  above  is  relevant  only  in  connection  with  the  question 
as  to  whether  the  municipality  has  sanctioned  this  intrusion 
upon  the  public  property  of  which  it  is  the  trustee.  From  the 
terms  of  the  ordinance,  it  is  apparent  that  the  municipality 
derives  no  authority  from  it  to  sanction  such  an  intrusion  upon 
public  property  outside  of  the  building  line.  It  is  evident, 
therefore,  that  the  present  case  is  fundamentally  different 
in  principle  from  the  "sky  sign''  cases  to  which  counsel  for 
the  plaintiff  refers  (City  of  N.  Y.  v.  Wineburgh  Adv.  Co., 
122  App.  Div.,  748;  City  of  Rochester  v.  West,  29  App.  Div., 
125;  Gunning  System  v.  City  of  Buffalo,  75  App.  Div.,  31). 
The  latter  class  of  cases  deals  with  signs  erected  or  displayed 
upon  property  legally  in  the  possession  of  private  owners. 
In  the  present  case  an  abutting  owner  or  one  in  privity 
with  him  has  erected  a  sign  upon  public  property  which 
is  legally  in  the  possession  of  the  City  of  New  York  as 
trustee  for  all  the  people  of  the  State.  The  streets  are 
now  the  people's  highways,  as  at  common  law  they 
were  regarded  as  belonging  to  the  king.  Chief  Justice 
Denio,  in  Davis  v.  Mayor  of  N.  Y.  (14  N.  Y.,  506,  515),  de- 
clared that  "  it  is  essential  to  the  legal  idea  of  such  a  road  that 
it  shall  be  common  to  all  The  sidewalk  is  a  part  of  the  high- 
way. The  highway  being  common  to  all,  by  what  right  or 
color  of  title  can  this  plaintiff  or  any  abutting  owner  assume 
to  appropriate  a  part  of  it  to  their  exclusive  use  ?  The  abutting 
owner  possesses  no  such  right  himself  and  can  confer  none 
by  deed  or  contract.  The  municipal  authorities  in  sanctioning 
the  erection  of  a  shed  for  the  protection  of  pedestrians  gave 
no  such  right  as  that  which  this  plaintiff  has  usurped.  An 
abutting  landowner  cannot  rent  for  private  profit  the  public 
property  for  such  uses  as  he  thinks  fit."  The  presence  of  the 
billboards  upon  the  public  highway  is  a  mere  nuisance 
which  the  municipal  authorities  will  do  well  to  abate. 
The  motion  to  continue  the  injunction  is  denied,  and  the  in- 
junction is  dissolved,  with  costs. 

Note. — It  is  a  matter  of  interest  to  report  that  the  Sullivan  Co, 
removed  the  signs  in  deference  to  this  decision,  but  then  erected 
them  upon  the  abutting  building,  being  repaired,  being  private 
property.  It  will  be  noted  that  billboard  men  care  nothing  for  the 
spirit  of  a  law! 


